Last Sunday George, Leo, Ron, and myself had a blast listening to music, drinking some fine wines, and munching down on pizza. I mentioned how impressed we were with Ron's pristine vintage H.H. Scott stereomaster integrated vacuum tube amplifier on the big Tannoy Westminster Royal SEs ...

...  but something I hadn't mentioned, and wanted to follow up on, was why the Westminster Royal SEs with their Duelund external crossovers were sounding so preternaturally good last Sunday.

None of us were surprised that spinning 45RPM reissue vinyl sounded gobsmack good, or even that HDtracks high-rez digital downloads sounded mighty fine, or that Northwest Public Radio's FM broadcast sounded great, but even Red Book digital and Jazz24's 64kbps stream sounded so musical it was spooky-freaky! Why?

In short, it was the contribution of the pair of Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors (above left next to the autotransformer) that Frederik sent for me to try in place of the Duelund Copper CAST 6.8uF capacitors (lower right) of the Duelund external crossovers that were responsible for the difference.

Leo had been the first to hear the Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors, and he was impressed right away with the huge improvement in sonic presentation and musicality, which is really saying something, because the Duelund Copper CAST 6.8uF capacitors are so silly good that they'll make your girlfriends' nipples hard in about a millisecond.

With the Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors installed into the critical C1 position of the WRSE Duelund external high-frequency crossover the soundspace & soundstage opens up dramatically, with all kinds of new musical detail coming through. What's particularly impressive is that the presentation is so silky smooth, with not even the slightest bit of etch or glare. In fact it is even richer, more colorful, more natural, more emotionally engaging, more ... of everything I can think of, than even the impressive Duelund Copper CAST 6.8uF capacitors in the C1 position.

There is no other way to say it: the Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors installed into the WRSE's external Duelund crossovers are a game-changer, with a magnitude of improvement comparable to the difference between stock Westminsters and improvement wrought by the entire Duelund-WRSE Project up until now. That's huge!

I know, it's somewhat of a bummer to hear the report of how good the Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors are at making music, because if you're like me you can't afford their $7500 Euro each price-tag (that's not a typo), but ... the story of how incredibly good they are deserves to be told whether they are obtainable, or not, for the average Jeff. I can tell you that if you can afford them that I can't imagine you ever being sorry you bought them, they are that good.

Back to where I started this rant: My system was sounding extraordinarily good with the pair of Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors in the C1 positions of the high-frequency crossovers (upper right-hand corner of the photo above), and when George, Ron, Leo, and myself were listening to various sources, even the lowest rez 64kbps streaming sources sounded better than 90% of the systems I've heard playing even the best vinyl. There is a lot more music to be heard in recordings than you've ever imagined, and I've found a set of Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors in the C1 position are the perfect genie to let the music out of the bottle. Truly awe inspiring!

I'll keep you appraised of further developments as I continue listening to the Duelund Silver CAST 6.8uF capacitors, but now let's move onto the next topic: NOS RCA Black Plate 6L6GC vacuum tubes courtesy of Leo.

If you've been reading along, you know that Leo brought over his restored vintage McIntosh MC30 mono amplifiers that he picked up from from Yves Beauvais at Vintage Vacuum Audio, and I liked them so much I picked up a pair to keep my McIntosh MC240 company. George liked what he was hearing so much from the vintage MC30s that he picked up a pair too!

My MC240 from vintage McIntosh specialist Tom Manley came with McIntosh branded RCA black plate 6L6GCs (below) ...

... and while they are my preferred tube choice for my MC240, I haven't yet got a chance to put them into my MC30s to give them a listen.

Then Leo bought a quad of NOS RCA 6L6GC black plates (top view above) and left them with me to give a listen to before he installed them into his MC30s - what a pal!

Given that Leo also left a copy of his newly acquired Mobile Fidelity 45RPM reissue of the original Rickie Lee Jones album, I thought that would be the perfect opportunity for a little listening session ...

Now after a little listening ...

I listened to the first side of the MoFi 45RPM Rickie Lee Jones album, then just for kicks put on my old 33 1/3 version and gave it a listen too.

MoFi really did a nice job on their 45 and it smokes my 33 all the way around, being both more musical and better sounding.

The MoFi 45 has layers and layers of instruments going back into the soundstage that pretty much don't exist on the 33, superb imaging, and there's so much space in between layers and around instruments that even the space has space.

The 33 sounds a little brash in comparison to the suave presentation of the MoFi 45, which sounds both smoother and more natural. The 33 sounds a little meatier and more incisive in the bass, and is warmer overall.

One of the things I've noticed about the MoFi reissues I've listened to lately is that they are a little more 'audiophile spectacular' in their presentation compared to the 45RPM reissues from Analogue Productions, for example. The MoFi's are a little leaner, have an accented sense of space, a high level of resolution, and while sounding 'audiophile good' I'm always conscious that I'm listening to a really good recording.

On the other hand, the Analogue Productions 45RPM reissues tend to be a little warmer, with a natural sense of recorded space, maybe a touch less resolution, but sound more musical and emotionally engaging - like a band is sitting in my room. I like the presentation of the Analogue Productions 45RPM albums better because they sound more musically and emotionally engaging to me, with more of a live music feel to them.

The MoFi Rickie Lee Jones 45RPM reissue comes in a nice box with a minimalist but well done booklet of lyrics and cover art. Don't get me wrong about the MoFi 45RPM, it is way better than the 33RPM version, and I'll probably end up buying one because I really enjoy Rickie Lee Jones, and this is the best version of the first album I've come across - by a country mile.

Ok, now let's switch gears - actually tubes - and listen to the MoFi Rickie Lee Jones with the NOS RCA 6L6GC Black Plates in the MC30s.

The McIntosh MC30 monos I bought from Yves had the GE 6L6GC grey plate tubes in them, and I've been very pleased with their overall performance, having a nice balance of musicality and audiophile-style sonic performance (below).

The RCA 6L6GC black plates sound really nice, as I've noted before in blog posts, and I absolutely love them in my MC240. Tonight is the first time I've compared the GE 6L6GC grey plates (on the silicone matt in the photo below) to the RCA 6L6GC black plates (in the amp in the photo below), and I have to say that both the GE and RCA are stupefyingly good, although with different strengths.

The RCA comes across as being more dynamic, and with tighter, more resolved, and punchier bass performance. This gives the RCA a more lively feel on melodies, rhythms, and tempos, as well as making it 'feel' more live-like musically. The GE is a little more laid back, richer, smoother, slightly less detailed (particularly in the bass), yet with more transparency back into the depths of the soundstage. By the way, both of these tubes throw big soundstages with superb imaging, and lots of recorded space. The GE actually edges out the RCA on layering back into the depth of the soundstage, with the RCAs having more timbral textures and more obvious tone color.

I think I'm going to have to pull the RCA 6L6GC black plates out of my MC240 and compare them to the 'new' quad of Leo's RCAs to see how much difference there is between a well run in set of RCAs and the 'new' ones of Leo's.

By the way, while listening to MoFi's 45RPM version of Rickie Lee Jones' first album and swapping RCA & GE tubes back and forth I've come to the conclusion that it is a must have. If you like RLJ this is one album you will not want to miss.

Ok, I'm running out of steam for writing tonight, so we'll have to consider this initial report on RCA vs. GE 6L6GCs in the MC30 Mac's an ongoing meditation, and I'll report back as time allows. I actually had a lot more I wanted to tell you about tonight before I closed - jazz guitar on vintage vinyl in particular - but that'll have to wait for another time.

I can tell you this: Johnny Smith on Roost is out of this world (thanks Leo!). I hope the Roost master tapes are still in existence somewhere, and that some enterprising person - like Chad at Acoustic Sounds - gets their hands on them and rolls them all out as 45RPM remasters. These may be the best jazz guitar recordings every made, and if you come across a Johnny Smith album on Roost in the used record store you should snap it up immediately. In my next post I'll tell you more ...

Ok, that's it for now - thanks for stopping by!