[Seamaster]

I got my ALO refrece 8 balanced on the way

 

[haiku]

New tubes for my CDM, soldered to pcb in Japan especially for me. More about it when I find the time.

 

[Wuthoqquan]

New tubes for my CDM, soldered to pcb in Japan especially for me. More about it when I find the time.

What brand/type are these?

 

[haiku]

What brand/type are these?

They´re vintage Sonotones. They have an extremely well transparency and resolution, with excellent treble and mids. Much better than the Sonotone tubes from ALO. They´re ultra rare, but sound absolutely sublime, though I have other vintage tubes, which sound better still......

 

[haiku]

 

[haiku]

A little look into my private vintage tubes collection. 13 pairs and counting.

 

[haiku]

Of course I also have all of the ALO tubes, too!

 

[haiku]

Listening with vintage japanese mazda tubes atm. Build 1966 !

 

[tracyca]

WOW, I have had my CDM for over a year and never changed the tubes before last week. I replaced the stock with the 5719 and it does run cooler and longer. Where can we find the rare tubes for this gem?

 

[kjchan]

Ken,
Will you be working on Russian tube 6n16

The Continental Dual Mono (CDM) was specifically designed to allow for relatively easy tube rolling of the sub-miniature dual triode tubes used in the CDM. This is achieved by our implementation of a 8 pin tube PCB and 8 pin header on the CDM. ALO audio will have available unpopulated CDM tube boards for use for tube rolling as well as sell populated CDM tube boards ready to be used with your CDM. The stock CDM will sell with a NOS Phillips 6111wa tubes we purchased new in box with 1988 dates on them. There were large quantities of pencil tubes produced and can still be bought which is why we wanted to utilize our 8 pin header and PCB solution for tube rolling. We hope this feature of removable tubes for your CDM will make the product more enjoyable and fun for all.

In the coming days we will test and post compatibility but we are confident these tubes will work.

6112
6021

6832
6BF7
6247
6AD4
5719
5718
6947
6948

So far we have only confirmed the 6112, 6021 and 6832 work ok. I will also post a short instructional video on disassembly and proper handling of the CDM. All one needs is a 1.5mm torx driver that we supply with every CDM.

Below are some images of the 8 pin header and ALO 8 pin sub-miniature PCB.





Here we have 2 unpopulated 8 pin header tube PCBs



various 8 pin tubes, on the far right is the 6832, on the left is the tube we will include stock with the CDM a Philips 6111WA.





How to install, simply load the tube with pin #1 into the square shaped hole on the PCB in the orientation you see above.





Solder and trim, be sure to mount the tube all the way on to the PCB straight and level.





Next you remove the existing tube simply by pulling off the 8 pin header and then lining the new tube up to install on to the 8 pin header.








Thats it your all set. Note the tubes will come installed with a small piece of 3M VHB tape which helps the tube stay level and straight. This can easily be replaced.

Please stay tuned for more information.

Thank you

Ken

 

[kjchan]

Hi Ken
Will you be working on Russian Melz tube 6n16b-v or 6n17b-v for cdm and v5.
Interesting if you have the PCB for this tube

 

[choisan]

is cdm still a good tube balanced amp in 2019? what is the limited version different to the non limited? seems alo is not offering options tubes with pcb.
also, is the pcb selling as part so i can solder other tubes? or i have to unsolder the bundled and solder another one on.
please kindly advise!

 

[rylim]

I have same questions as well, and wonder if this amp still a good buy ?

 

[cj3209]

I have same questions as well, and wonder if this amp still a good buy ?

I owned this amp and regret selling it. Outside of ALO, I don't see any portable tube options in the same league but lots of SS options such as my WA11 which sounds really good as well as iFi Micro BL. There is the portable tube amp, WA8 but it costs $1,800!

 

[kukkurovaca]

I have same questions as well, and wonder if this amp still a good buy ?

Sort of depends on your use case. It’s a great amp, but it’s too big for true portable use, and it runs hot. The DAC section has an extremely smooth tuning that some love and some hate. And it’s not necessarily the best choice for either super sensitive hiss-prone IEMs or hard to drive headphones.