My take on the Eros

[johnsonad]

I had a little bit of hum in one channel and got lucky in fixing it by remembering to polish the RCA connections.  It sounds silly but makes a significant difference when you are tracking down something small.  I use a little Flitz metal polish and a paper towel for both the female grounding side and the male probe.  After the Flitz the connections are sprayed with a little Craig's Deoxit.  That cleared up the hum and the Eros is now dead quiet minus a little tube rush at high volumes.

[johnsonad]

I've had the new Eros playing for the last few days and am very impressed with the sound of it.  It turned out better than I had expected and like the others who recently finished their builds, I've been listening and enjoying vinyl more than I have in quite a while.

A few notes on the build.  I was worried about noise pick up using film caps as cathode bypass caps.  It may be my room but thankfully it isn't picking up any noticeable sound.  The caps are on the opposite side of the PS section and the wire is well twisted.  Not sure if this helps but it didn't hurt.

The differences with tube rolling is very apparent.  Of the tubes I've got on hand that will work with the servo circuit removed, a pair of silver plate Tele's were the lowest noise and sounded best for the EF86.  Others tried were Tele EF806S and GEC mesh.  We rolled a few tubes for the 6922 and settled on an old Amperex 6DJ8.  It is slightly sweet but gives the best separation, detail and tone.  Others we tried were the Russian tube supplied with the kit and a Mullard 6922.  I've got a few others to try but at this point, the Amperex is staying for the foreseeable future. 

Someday I'll put the choke in the PS but there is no hurry given how well it turned out.