Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

I always was “concerned” about those large high voltage triodes: 211, 845, GM70….  They kind of different… The 845 always was brutal and not elegant, 210 was elegant but not sophisticated, and the GM70 was sophisticated enough but no one build any serious performing systems with this tube.

Still, all those large over 1000V tubes share the same quality that I head in all of them. Despite of their obvious intrinsic and implementation differences they all share something that I call “elephant sound”.

A couple days ago I heard a 845-based PP, driven by 300B. Even if to forget any randomness of that installation I still had a constant feeling when I was listening that I was geting the “elephant sound” – the sound that develops it’s own pressure without reference to it’s dimensions . To me those amps sound alike an elephant that stays in my leaving room. Suddenly the elephant would like to call me from kitchen and he makes his crazzy scream to attract my attention.  This scream is completely without any proportion to the distance, intentions, result and volume. It is juts a very rough loud and big sound, completely unnecessary in the given context. All 211, 845, GM70 that I heard did it: they created initially large sound and than minimize it's side depends of the input signal. People kind of like it, I do not.

The 6C33C does opposite: it crate a small sizes with small signal and then increase the “size of the elephant in the room" along with it's necessity. The 6C33C do not reaches the “size” of the 211, 845, GM7 but when we are talking about the 211, 845, GM70 size do we talk an it’s side or we talk about a pressure as an evidence of the size? What would describes the elephant on a room: it’s smell, it’s size, or…. the pressure with which the elephant’s ass press a listener to a wall?

To me the sound of 211, 845, GM70 in some ways remind me the sound of Martin Logan Statement.

If heard that monster 3 times and if you have experience with “that” sound then you know what I mean. Defiantly the Martin Logan Statement is too horrible to make this association but in any association there is a reason….

Rgs,
Romy The Cat

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site