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difool wrote:

What is the benefit of using 834PT in dual mono over a stereo 834PT?

That is a good question and I asked myself it numerous times. My current standing is the benefits are purely intellectual as I am not able to observe the applied benefits. I do not say that the tangible appalled benefits do not exist – I just say that I do not think that I was able to catch them.  The idea initially was that in order to get rid of any crosstalk across the channels and to improve the stereophonic imaging each channel should be completely isolated and do not use the half of the same tubes. Running two separate 834P default phonostages with MM needle did give some very-very minor advantage in imaging department – much less that it would be expected but detectable if to search for it. With ET magnetic the entire imaging presentation changes and as far as I could remember I did not detect any sensible difference between one and two correctors.

Still, what I went for custom made 834PT I decided to keep the separate PS and separate gain stages, the same I will be doing in my “End of Life" phonostage:

http://www.romythecat.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?postID=5856#5856

…which will be juts repackaging of what I have now. Is it necessary? I do not think so. Is it conceptually better? Yes it probably is. The other side benefit is that each half of 12AX7 has own performance (gain, cathode emission etc…) and if you have the juts a half of the tube then you might find the exact tube that you need. In case of use right and left side of the tube for two channel you need to be too lucky…

So, would I advise to go for 2 separate channels? Nope, I feel that it is unnecessary. Will I combine the channels in my “End of Life" phonostage? Nope, I will keep then separated. Will I combine the channels if I build the 834PT again? Most likely I would.

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