What is the "best" of the 5881 Tubes.

if I may wade in here ....I have the SP3 also , my first impression on hearing it was "great musical midrange it has potential " my Awe-phile pal ( with a harshly critical ear ..came over and listened , he also liked the mids ...but was not too impressed w/ the rest ..
when I suggested we roll a bit ...he said 'go ahead'
I removed the Chinese 12 AX7's and inserted a pair of older ...maybe late 60's bugleboys ( Holland) ...wow what a difference , he agreed , opened up the soundstage , definetely more musical ..we continued to listen
then I suggested another change ..'go ahead' he replied
this time I swapped out the stock 6922's for a very special pair of mid 60's Amperex PQ's (USA) ..Wow again another step in the right direction ..extension in all the extremities ...that was it we made a night of it ...great presentation ..really enjoyable is how my friend put it .
a couple of days later he said to me ..here tryy these as he gave me a little packet ..inside was a pr of old stock 12AU7's also bugleboys , but this time from England
I listened to the system w/out these ...some Ella F , not too bad ..then I put in the BB's ....it amazingly smoothed out the top end , sybillance was gone ..the cymbals shimmered ...WOW
my friend who has a very expensive Atma sphere set up ...confessed that before hearing the SP 3 he was convinced he would not like it ...remarked he cannot believe the value of this unit , it has no right to sound this good at the price !
I agree & have decided to do the "full monte" ...I have ordered all the Parts connexion level 1 components ( see underwood wallys A-Gon ad for Onix ) , hexfreds , bypass caps , new RCA's , silver wire , resistors as well as teflon V caps for the pre cplg. ....I have a vision that this cute little unit can go all the way !

Is all this a sign that the meek will inherit (at the least) AudioGon ?

Tubby

Tubby, you won't be disappointed with the Onix XCD-99 CD player. I own the XCD-88 which is virtually the same as the XCD-99 aside from cosmetic differences. I bought a B-stock unit from AV123 as I wanted something that would match the SP3's grey metal fascia. The B-stock unit was in excellent condition when I received it and it has been very satisfying to listen to. I plan to upgrade the unit through Underwood Hi Fi in the near future as AV123 will continue to honor the three year warranty even after Underwood Hi Fi's modifications. If you want to save some more money, call AV123 and ask if they have any B-stock XCD-99 or XCD-88 units available. They back up their B-stock units with the standard three year warranty. All-in-all, this CD player matches up very well with the SP3 integrated amp for a very musical combination.

Bernard991, please keep us informed about your mod plans. I think you've posted some information about this on the AV123 forum, correct? Anyway, your post has me searching for NOS tubes 6922's and 12AU7's.

Rhing ..yes you are correct I did post in AV123 ...I like the power of a forum .. a group think ;)
I lucked out and bought a few of the USA Amperex's from a guy in Viet Nam , they were left there ..brand new when the US pulled out in '73 what a treasure !
off the topic I have a Musichall CD25 that I bought as a transport ..the previous owner did surgery and disabled the onboard DAC ...it works fine for me as I have a Ack dac , I have just ordered the Tentlabs X02 clock /PS so I will do that first and listen to the SP3 as is then break open the solder ...and see where it goes
will post it all ..
I have ONE other question ...has anyone had experience using new power tubes other than 6L6GC's ???...I have heard rumors of people using KT66's but only that nothing conclusive ...it is difficult to get any tech info out of AV123 re biasing voltage potential on the SP3
cheers !

Can anyone find an "open door" (so to speak) to the techs or service at Melody Audio in Australia ? I believe that they would be the ones to have the most expertiese in the Bia's and limitations of the SP-3. My only hesitation would be a gentle "toe stepping" on AV123 or perhaps causing a potiential problem between Melody and them.
However:
It is important for us (the owners and potential owners) to know the operational parameters of this fine amp. The "known" is:
5881's, 6l6's and KT66' all have different bias voltages (as: 6550 vs KT88/KT90).
(just cant seem to spell today). Any-who, It is the fine folk's at AV123 that should be saddled up to the boys down under to find a answer to our madness.

Tubby