Tube rolling with BHK monos… The stuff of legends

At TMR headquarters, we take sealed factory packaging very seriously. We consider our description of any item and its flaws (or lack thereof), and also our “A-OK” on the functionality, to be our sacred contract with each and every buyer.

So if a component comes through our doors with the factory seal intact, we treat it like gold and never disturb the quality seal that is, in the same way, a contract from the component’s manufacturer with our customer.

In case you can’t tell, we take our work seriously, and we care about the things a real audiophile would care about.

Since we’re sort of highlighting our unique partnership with PS Audio in this week’s Friday Five, I thought it would be a good chance to share a recent story about how I broke some factory seals, but only at the behest of a potential customer.

On the sales order were two new BHK 300 mono amps, and a BHK preamplifier as well, and a request was put in for upgraded tubes.

More than a few words have been written in forums about tube rolling with the PS Audio BHK components, and some of you may have seen these and read how Bascom King and Arnie Nudell (who helped voice and critique nearly every PS Audio project up until his passing) preferred several tubes like the Tungsram 7DJ8 or vintage Mullard 6922s or vintage RCA 12AU7s over the stock PS Vane 12AU7 in the preamp and Genelex Gold Lion 6922 in the amplifiers.

Because I worked at PS and was close to the scene, I remember Bascom saying that the preamplifier — the PS Audio BHK Signature Preamplifier — took well to tube upgrades, and perhaps showed off different tubes’ strengths a little more than when replacing tubes in the amplifier, due to the tubes’ unique roles in each of the components.

Bascom and Arnie are/were tube guys for life. Many in the audiophile community were shocked to see Paul allow tubes in his products, but this was by the choice of Bascom and with the urging of Arnie. Tubes on the input can do wonderful things to a well-built solid state amplifier.

So it was of little surprise after Arnie’s passing that he left a decent tube collection behind, and while the bulk of those went elsewhere, TMR received a handful of them scattered among a few boxes of other things which we are consigning for the family.

I had the chance to listen to a few of Arnie’s tubes a couple months back, and it seemed like every tube I grabbed was better than what I was replacing in the component I was using to listen to them — my single stage class A DIY headphone amp, my Dynaco Mk III and an ARC amplifier.

So I had some faith in these tubes of Arnie’s, and when the customer requested an upgrade in sound via tubes, I knew where to look.

In fairness, we weren’t prepared to sell individual tubes of Arnie’s, because we couldn’t know how many hours were on each tube and how they were stored, and what their life expectancy might be. But this would be a way to get some value for them back to the Nudell family, and to do as much as we can in the memory of a great audiophile like Arnie.

So I decided to open that scary factory seal on a pair of BHK 300 monos and a BHK preamplifier, on the hunch that Arnie’s stash could do better.

Using a handy digital tube tester, I narrowed the choices down to two brands of tubes for the preamp, and one solid winner for the amps. As I’ve written before in this blog, I have a personal recording project that is unique and I’m stupid lucky to have it. Via Earthworks microphones, Belden Iconoclast pro audio cables, a custom mic pre, a BHK preamplifier (with RCA 12AU7s ;) and a modified PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter, my partner Darren Myers and I record unamplified acoustic ensembles in a nearby former Lutheran chapel, which perform to a live audience of 50-100. We’ve got several fantastic recordings so far, and these are a perfect audiophile benchmark for me. Playing any of the recordings back on any system will instantly tell me what’s going on with the system, or what it needs.

Using my audiophile benchmarks, I carefully matched the gain of the preamps used whenever I switched tubes (the digital tester can read gain of each tube, and I did find differences between the brands), and after some deliberation, I chose Arnie’s pair of JJ Electronics 12AU7 tubes for the preamplifier. They just sounded more honest and real. And exciting, holy cow. I did not mind this type of work, getting to listen to some of the world’s best audio gear playing back my recordings.

For the amps, I tried one quad of RCAs, but the clear winner was a seemingly unused matched quad of Electro Harmonix Cryoset cryo treated 6922 tubes. Besides physically feeling rich and weighty, they sounded like they belonged in a world class amplifier. As 6922s I have no doubt Arnie included them in his stash with his pair of BHK 300 monos in mind.

All told, I spent about 4 hours making dead sure the upgrades I was offering were actual upgrades, and then I carefully repacked the components the way I remember seeing Danny and Lorenzo do it in the warehouse at PS Audio.

Unfortunately, this story doesn’t have a fairytale ending, because very (veeerrry) late in the deal, the potential customer backed out in pursuit of a better price. While we understand his desire to shop around, we aren’t the kind to break a factory seal lightly, and we were initially a little bummed about it all.

Poor us. Instead of moping around next to our trio of gorgeous Wilson Sophia 3s back in shipping, or the earth-shaking JL Audio Gotham subs in the testing area, or our golden McIntosh gear*, we decided we want someone else to really appreciate the combination of PS Audio’s award-winning amplification and preamplification with the well-informed choices of Mr. Nudell in the tube department.

The preamplifier with its amazing JJ Electronics upgraded tubes (and the originals, of course) is now spoken for, but the pair of BHK 300 mono amplifiers with upgraded Arnie tubes is still available. Inquire today by calling Nick by or asking your next-favorite TMR contact, if you are interested in everything these amps and the new tubes have to offer. To those in the know, it’s a whole hell of a lot. Thanks for reading! Now go browse!

* A 50th Anniversary gold McIntosh amp just came through and the other testers and I have only recently stopped drooling — keep an eye out for that!