To be on the safe side, I ordered a set of the stock replacements and the tube puller. I think I will order the RX-9 rings. It sounds like they should improve any tube. Even if I don’t hear a difference, I’m not out much. I’m pretty sure I’ve spent that much money for a bottle of Belgian beer a time or two.
I tried the RX-9 rings and the only set up I like is using them at very light tension, like barely hold on to the tubes. otherwise the sound is compressed to me. of course it may well be due to my system and personal preference.
I think their main benefit is to soften the edgy sound on high frequency, so it is really system dependent. The M1200 sounded very neutral in all frequencies in my system (My speakers use soft dome tweeters with super high frequency tweeters) so I did not find the rings provide great benefit. But I know there are tons of people love them.
Something that inexpensive is worth a try. With some less than stellar recordings my Magnepan 3.7is can come off as a little bright and edgy. I know, I know, don’t listen to those. The trouble is, I really like some of those songs. If you decide to get rid of your RX-9s I’ll keep an eye on the classifieds here.
Haha, they are pretty reasonable so I will keep them around. Like I said, I like them on some music and really don’t on others. I just purchased a set of Radiotechnique 12AU7 - Kevin’s Stash from Upscale and will put these rings back on again. I heard these tubes may do wonder on the BHK Pre.
That Radiotechnique from Kevin’s stash is good…
Maybe @Elk wants to merge this with the other m1200 tube topic on page 1.
I have Kevin’s stash Gold Lions. I may have to try the Radiotechnique tubes in the BHK preamp.
The 6922’s can be used in the BHK Preamp by moving the jumpers from 12 to 6 volt setting (the manual also says to move the current jumpers but I believe Bascom said some tubes might sound better the other way). It’s in the manual.
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Oh wow! I will revisit the manual. Thanks so much for pointing it out!
You’re welcome. I’m currently running Gold Lion 6922’s in my BHK Pre. Before that I was using Tungsram 7DJ8’s, which sounded great but the Gold Lions are considerably quieter. There is a long thread on BHK Pre tube rolling.
Fantastic. I’m still running stock tubes as the kits happen to be only a few months old, but eager to explore the mentioned Bascom posts. Cheers!
I know I am against the flow here. I tried Radiotechnique 12au7 (from Kevin’s stack) and Gold Lions 12au7 (from Vivatube) for my M1200. But listening through PST I kept going back to PSVANE 12au7-s. They have great resolution and big soundstage. Compared to the others they have a more meat-on-the-bone nice sound that I like. The high end is a bit more present and they do not sound warm, so I can see why they are not top choice for others. I think my cables are on the warmer side (Fidelium speaker cables are really warm sounding) which balanced it out nicely.
Well, I am not trying to change anyone’s mind here, but they sounded better in my setup.
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I’m testing a pair of M1200’s while my BHK250 is being repaired. After about a week of initial burn in I exchanged the Psvanes for a set of Kevin’s stash Gold Lions. The lower treble exaggeration that made instruments sound so “hyper real” seems pretty much eliminated now and the amplifier’s tonal balance and reproduction of instrumental timbre sounds much more like the BHK’s. My Tidal Piano Cera speakers have Accuton ceramic drivers so they really highlight any tendency towards treble brightness. No problem whatsoever changing the tubes without a tube puller, went right in on the first try. I was also pleased that there was no apparent flexing of the circuit board the tube is mounted on.
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I have Kevin’s stash Gold Lions in my M1200’s. IMO so much better than the stock tubes! Glad to hear the sound resembles that of the BHK. I will own a pair of BHK amps someday!
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The BHKs are wonderful and well worth waiting for.
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Great thread going here. Just about finished with the initial 200 hr break in period of my new M1200’s… wondering if adding the Golden Lions will set me back to zero on the break in period?
Really curious about adding these tubes to the mix to see what all the talk is about. Ordered the Platinum series tubes from Kevin…. (Not really sure what Kevins Stash is all about…)
Kevin’s Stash is all about marketing, an attempt to make the product appear unusually special.
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Very happy with Gold Lion into my M1200s, almost a year since the rolling tubes. More on the warm side and mainly very quite, that is the reason why I use them both on M1200s and BHK Preamp. Less hiss from speakers. than PSvane stock tubes
The sound is more relaxed, basses very tight and pleasant. Soundstage is deep and most of all very realistic. Not a detailed or analytic feeling but very engaging.
Just ordered a quad Gold Lion according a yearly replacement. In that occasion I will also try TAD 12Au7A tubes premium balanced and matched from Tube Amp Doctor in Germany. They suggested to be more silent than GL, curious to try.
Hope that helps.
Just asking if folks here find easy the tube rolling or not. Every time I roll tubes is a challenge, very difficult manage with fingers into the M1200 even if I use the red tube puller. More inserting new tubes than extracting them.
Anyone also have benefit using tube dampers into M1200 with Gold Lion? Here in Europe is very hard to find online this tools and I don’t know the right model to use. I hope tube dampers like Herbie’s models are also easy to insert, as said before is already a difficult process for me the replacement.
inserting the tubes in M1200 is a pain, I use tube puller also but really it does not work for inserting. I use the flashlight from iPhone and look from the side and it helps a little bit. It is the only complaint I have on the M1200.
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The stock tubes are quite good and quiet. But I replaced them with GL for curiosity and I am not disappointed. GL smoothed out the edges little and bass is little better. Noise levels are the same in my case. Replacing the tubes is little challenging and I think the tube pullers are a must. Use the puller to position the pins and use your figures to push the tube in.