Wow.. u really fast action, how much u bought the 606?
606 have much better control on the bass and sound comfortable, even at very low volume, it can still give nice detail. Not like audiolab need to raise to certain level then only the real sound coming out.
And u can feel that Quad 606 play music easily, audiolab is like struggling... no choice the pwer ration is a lot difference. For moderate cost 2nd solid state amp, Quad is 1 of the good choice. Another choice is Restek tensor (200w) but more expensive and it maybe not as warm as quad which shld be pair with tube preamp.
If u intent to keep the 8000A as pream, later upgrade is to DIY or get a tube buffer to place in between your CDP & 8000A... then u will have tube feel, better resolution, sweet and powerful system.
In case u r DIY/getting any tube buffer here's some sharing, it is only my personal view.
1) 5687 tube --> very good resolution, tube feeling is moderate
2) 5670 /2C51 --> more tube feel but less resolution
2) 12AU7--> very nice tube feeling, HF & mid is really sweet but bass seems a bit less.
In case u DIY a tube buffer, my advise is that the cathode bias cap must use at least blackgate std better if can afford N series. For signal coupling, moderate cost cap is mundorf Zn, higher is jensen cu, my ultimate choice is Vcap teflon..
In fact i had DIY a 5687 tube preamp for my friend, when use it to the quad, it actually give better resolution, sweeter sound compare to 8000A but bass not so strong. Anyway the 5687 tube preamp have obvious hum when use with Quad 606 which i need to solve this problem. So temporary he use this tube preamp as a buffer.... |