Tube Possibilities (yes, that's right)

[prepress]

I made some time to swap out the Black Diamonds for the Gold Lions last evening, and got in about 1:15 with them as a preliminary.

Last night was a video session, and the requirements are different than audio only. Playing reference tracks from my Moody Blues and Yes DVDs, I came away thinking it sounded good. The biggest takeaway is that the high end is toned down some compared to the BDs; "less aggressive" or "more subdued" may be appropriate. That could come in handy with brighter recordings, though depending upon the DVD it may not serve quite as well. The dynamics were present, though perhaps just a bit less upfront compared to the BDs. It's actually as if I'd turned down the volume a few notches. But the GLs may well be easier to listen to because of the less aggressive highs, which could come off sounding bright with the BDs at times. The BDs sounded real, as in "that's how live music sounds sometimes," but could get annoying at high volume were I to turn the volume up. It may take a few notches more with the GLs in place to get to that point.

I'll see how this goes. I'd like to get acquainted with the sound before making any deep decisions on whether the Gold Lions stay in or I give something else a go. I'll go through more of my reference tracks, video and audio, and see where it takes me.