Hi all - I am very happy overall with the sound coming from my BeePre + Stereomour II's (45 and 2A3) and would like to start experimenting with different tube and film cap combinations to get the sound dialed in to my tastes.
I recently replaced the Solen/Dayton film caps in my SII-45/EML 45B with ClarityCap CMR caps and the added clarity and attack is wonderful, although I find the sound is a bit "flattened" - still early days, and this may change. I'll have to try different tube/cap combo's to see what works best for me. But the prospect of spending $1000's trying out different brands of boutique caps in my 3 amps gives me serious pause. Spending $$ on tubes is equally hard on the wallet, but easier to justify because having them on hand means I can change my amp with a quick tube swap. Whereas caps that I only like 10% of the time will not get swapped in and just sit in a box of parts. (I know: "Welcome to the world of audio tweaking!")
The Russian NOS PIO's get good reviews on this forum and given how relatively inexpensive they are compared to the top-end offerings from Dueland, Audyn, Jupiter, etc., I am considering giving them a try. I recall Aaron J very much liking KBG's in his Beepre (perhaps even more than Jupiters?) and Tom-s is a frequent proponent of using Ruskies. Geary L has also been proponent.
My questions:
(1) Are there types other than KBG that I should go for, or is KBG a consistent favorite performer?
(2) How do they compare sonically to expensive high-end offerings? Am I getting 90% of the performance of say a V-Cap or Duelund for 1/10 the price?
MTIA,
Derek