C2300 Tube Test Day
 

I test my tubes in my gear once a year, usually in June. I have been a bit lax this year, but today I managed to motivate myself into pulling the C2300 out of the living room rack and testing the 12AX7 tubes in the line stage and moving coil phono stage. I have Gold Lion ECC83/12AX7 tubes in the line stage and Telefunken ECC83/12AX7 tubes in the moving coil phono stage. My tube tester for small tubes is the Maxi-Preamp 2 from Maxi-Test. After 15 months daily use of the C2300, both pairs of 12AX7's still tested strong and closely matched. No reason to install new tubes at this time. That's good news. I reinstalled the tubes in the preamp, and reinstalled the preamp in the rack. I love my C2300 preamplifier. It's feature rich, quiet as a mouse, sounds remarkable, built like a tank, and is all analog.


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Dan,

Could you please tell me who is the stock tubes´s manufacturer in this preamp?

Big differences in terms of sound quality between the stock tubes and the Gold Lyon´s ?

Thank you.

Chema.

I believe the stock tubes are JJ.

Chema.......When the McIntosh C2300 was in production the factory was using tubes made in China. I think they were made by Shuguang. I don't know exactly when McIntosh made the decision to begin using JJ Tubes as their branded tubes, but as I have been told, JJ Tubes are what McIntosh presently uses. I pulled the Made In China tubes out of my C2300 years ago and now use Gold Lion 12AX7 and Telefunken ECC83/12AX7 tubes exclusively. Yes, there is a considerable improvement using Gold Lion tubes. I have no problem recommending them.

Thank you very much, Dan,

Why don´t you use the Gold Lion in the phono section?

Chema.

Chema.......The Telefunken tubes measure about 3dB quieter than the Gold Lion tubes. Both manufacturer's tubes are quiet, but the Teles are the best. I use an Ortofon Cadenza Blue moving coil cartridge in the living room system. It is a low output moving coil. The extra 3dB lower noise floor is an advantage to how quiet the background remains.

Very nice Dan. Thanks for sharing.

Thank´s again Dan,

Using a MM cartridge, the benefits of Tekefunken tubes should be equivalent, isn´t it?

Chema.

Chema.......The higher output voltage of moving magnet phono cartridges negates some of the necessity for ultra quiet tubes in a phono stage. The higher signal levels produce from moving magnet designs deliver a louder signal that requires less amplification from the phono stage circuitry, so the noise floor is essentially masked to a certain degree by the stronger signal. That said, it is never a bad thing to have the quietest tubes in a phono stage, be they moving coil or moving magnet.

Dan,
Was this tube testing in preparation for your new amps?