Ok. I know I said I wasn't gonna mess with it. I swore I wasn't going to mess with it. It sounded a good deal better than the Dynaco. Once I replaced the bum tube with the black plate Sylvania, everything was fantastic. It was smooth and there was nothing wrong with the sound. The midrange was phenomenal, the bass awesome and the highs crystal clear and highly defined. Heck, it could even handle Mahler's Symphony #8 without turning into a mushy mess (the Dynaco has a little trouble with that one - which says something considering it's got over 10 times the power of the GSG).
But one thing bothered me. To me, SET amps are supposed to have a detail and "sweetness" that requires one to pick up one's jaw off the floor. The kind of thing where you forget you're listening to recorded music and a catch a glimpse of one of the speakers in reminded shock. That wasn't totally there. And the soundstage was great, but I thought it could do better.
So I decided to pull out the Mundorfs and put in the caps from the Bill of Materials. They look like orange drops, but I'm too lazy to look up what they are for certain right now. I had the caps swapped in about two minutes - I didn't even pull the tubes. I just laid the thing back on a folded up towel and had my way with it.
Here's the results (thus far):
Out of all the reviews I've read, this one describes Mundorf Supremes perfectly:
http://www.laventure.net/tourist/caps.htmThey gave them an "A" rating - below "AA" and "AAA." But still better than most (the list goes down to "F"). They describe them thusly:
"It is rich, detailed, and full-bodied, though a bit softer sounding than the Duelund VSF. Relatively free of glare."
"Properly placed, they can mitigate the hardness of a digital front end."
But do not confuse that "softness" with lack of treble. Tito Puente's "Take Five" will sizzle your ears off with these. The best way to "technically" describe them is as if someone pulled back the upper mids a little bit. Vocals lose their "edge," and just become buttery smooth. They sound great, just with no edge. And this probably leads to the sense of a compressed soundstage.
Now I also used to play in bands in my younger days, so even though I've taken great care to preserve my hearing in the last decade or so, some damage has been done. I find I like that "edge." And I associate that edge with the SETs I've heard.
The Bordello Red travels from playing through the big 3 ways on one side of the house to my bedroom in the evenings, where it plays through some aesthetically gorgeous, but completely mediocre mini Teac speakers (with lightly modded crossovers - I can't leave anything alone).
First impressions of the B.O.M. "Orange Drops:"
It's a little a hard to give a completely honest assessment on the mini Teacs. At first they sounded kind of flat and crappy. I was used to the smoothness of the Mundorfs. After a little time, things started to fall into place. First, they "opened up" - that edge that I've been referring to made it's appearance, then the highs. Last to fall in was the bottom end. Somewhere about halfway through this process I found myself looking at the speaker.
Tomorrow I'll bring the Bordello to the big speakers and see what happens. I guess I'm not done quite yet...