ILLusion Liquid Air Umbilical for Modwright units

I found the Phillips 5R4GYS to be a good tube in the 9.9 driving the 5400,but I did not like that tube in the 9.0 driving the HAPZ1ES. I also don't like the 9.9 driving the HAPZ1 regardless of rectifier, although I haven't tried it with the Phillips yet. I need to reevaluate the 9.9 vs 9.0 again. Preliminarily, I preferred the 9.0 to the 9.9 with the 5400 also. Maybe the Sylvania voltage regulators would change my mind, but to me the 9.9 is a very solid state sounding piece. I haven't found image and stage to be anything special.

Both of these power supplies are sensitive to tubes and ac/DC cords. Maybe I don't have the 9.9 dialed in yet.

Brownsfan,

Sylvanias are much better than stock tubes, better dynamics and a quieter tube. In my system the 9.0 sounds two dimensional in comparison to the 9.9.

I'm using a SR Tungsten PC on mine but the AH fuse is amazing...

Surprisingly my Illusion Umbilical cord arrived today and after 3+ hours, it's a nice upgrade from stock. NOT inexpensive but definitely worth the $$. On familiar recordings, it's easier to decipher complex and compressed passages. Sound is more coherent, better tone, separation, 3D ... very happy!

Have you guys demo Audio Magic Illusion IC or SC?

I have PS 9.0 with TS NOS 5U4GB, SR Red fuse and it's excellent. Too bad can't demo 9.9 in my system before purchase.

Knghfi, how do you find the TS 5U4GB in terms of stage and image? I tried a cheap 1960s GE 5U4GB and the image and stage was crazy good. Best by far that I have heard in my system. Unfortunately, there was far too much sibilence.

Best rectifier overall I have found yet is a 1944 vintage V71 (military 5U4) Westinghouse Canada I got from Brent Jesse. Great tube in the PS 9.0.

Wig, I will look into the Sylvanias.

Knghifi,

It's going to get even better, just leave it running for the next 10 days and you should hear much better midrange presence at the 72 hour mark and detail will start to open up at 200 hours.