Aesthetix Janus / Calypso

Ordered NOS tubes for my Janus from Andy today! He claims it will transform the Janus into another hemisphere.

Also 2 pairs for the BHK 300’s

interesting. which tubes for Aestheitx and BHK?

Amperex 12AX7 and Siemens 6DJ8

For the amps Sylvania 6DJ8

Andy claims I’ll sell my BHK preamp after tubes are installed in the Janus!

But I love the BHK preamp. I’ll use it in my office and sell the VPI 299D. I’ll need to grab a 2 channel amp somewhere

When I hear this kind of claim I take it with a “grain of salt”. This is a salesman hawking something. I’ve been tube rolling for more than fifty years and and never has a tube transformed a device. They enhance it at best. In the case of some tubes, they make it sound dreadful. There is a lot of information on the internet that will steer you in the right direction.

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congrats ordering new tubes man. exciting!

I have some NOS Mullard 12AX7’s from Andy in my Calypso preamp. And a pair of Amperex 6922’s. but thinking of getting a different pair of 6922’s for it.

I have a pair of BHK300’s arriving in the next week or so (also exciting!) …and I figure I’ll use the stock tubes for awhile. they’re the 6922 Genalex Gold Lion’s right?

have you rolled tubes in your BHK300’s yet?

Yes. I find there is more difference rolling tubes in the preamp vs the amps. They matter but not as much at least in the tubes I have tried. I have used the BHK recommended tubes that Upscale sells the longest.

In the BHK preamp I like the 6 volts tubes much better. The 12 volt seem to have too much bass bloat.

Each system and personal taste are different, so get what sounds the best to your liking and ears. It’s like the best beer. Everyone has there favorite.

Same here. But Andy is NOT a salesman. He offers his take on it. He offers 30 days full return and refund if I’m not happy. So no loss either way.

You got that right. Pale ale pour moi. :slight_smile:

Just to be clear, Andy didn’t claim his tubes would make the unit better, he just said that his tubes would make it’s best it could be. These unit ship stock with JJ’s and EH tubes that cost 7-12 dollars each. What is crazy is that even the Eclipse version at 15K has 10 dollars tubes! I understand why ( supply issue ), but it’s still crazy IMO.

I have been away for a while. Who’s Andy?

Andrew Bouwman @ Vintage Tube Services

Thanks

Has anyone had this problem with a Janus or Calypso? Here is the issue:

I have a concern with the Janus. When I power it on, it goes into mute as normal. That is fine. But once I turn mute off there is a loud pop or passage of music for 1 second. This ONLY happens with there is a source being played ( like a cd or streaming from Dac, or from FM tuner ) . This does NOT sound normal to me. Thoughts?

It is enough to make both BHK 300’s go into protection mode.

hey d, I have not experienced the issue you describe. I am running a Calypso, BHK 300 and DS Sr. DAC.

when I turn mute off, with a source playing, I usually turn the volume down quite a bit before disengaging the mute…like to about 25 on the dial. No clicking or pops at all.

But on occasion I forget to turn the volume down, and in these situations, the Calypso handles it fine…and the mute disengages almost gradually. the music starts playing more quietly for the first few milliseconds…

maybe try a different set of tubes?

I used to have a Calypso and it worked flawlessly.

I find Andy to be a great guy as well. He would rather talk to you vs push you to a web page with a picture to determine what tubes might be a good match. Last time I called upscale I got ‘well we don’t really do this anymore - just go to our web page … ‘ right from Kevin. Well I don’t shop there any longer either.

I tried to order tubes from him. I called 4 times in 3 weeks. Still not tubes, but he never charged me. So I move on.

I think I’ll post my Janus for sale soon. All black with trigger option.