This is a thread for all those who own Octave or want to learn what it's all about... It's truly an amazing tube line so come in here talk about it and learn more about it!
It is so good to see this thread get started. The Octave line of Tube electronics has been hand built in Germany for the last three decades and recently we(Dynaudio) began importing the product into North America. Engineering, build quality and performance is on par or better than many of the better known tubes lines in high end audio.
i was thrilled i can't wait to here what the customer has to say! He has a killer system! It's Octave MRE 130 amps with TARA Labs Omega Edge speaker cables, The Zero interconnects, and Dynaudio Confidence C4's... this system should rock!
The MRE 130 is one fine tube amp. I have mentioned to many people on other forums that the MRE equipped with the Super Black Box drives my B&W Nautilus 800's pretty easily. The bass is taught and very dry. The description in the review regarding the dimensionality and spaciousness is absolutely true. Truly remarkable. I had the HP500SE with the MRE 130's for several years and now own an Octave Jubilee preamp that has raised the bar of sound quality. I am pretty much addicted to listening to music on this system.
I have experimented with every KT 88 known to man it seems. The EH KT88's seem to be the best fit in terms of sound quality. The GL KT88's are nice, but not as dynamic as the EH's. The Svetlana Winged C's were my top reference, they have a tremendously wide soundstage. I tried the JJ KT88's and they sucked the life of the system. They did now work well. I am also using NOS driver tubes I purchased TAD, but now I want to try the PSVANE because in the test the reviewer said it made a positive impression.
Have you posted your KT88 findings anywhere? I'm curious to know your findings. Did you find that rolling the output tubes made more tonal difference than rolling the input tubes?
What amps do you own from Octave? Do you have an integrated or a mono amp? The reason is that what I have tried pertains to the MRE 130's, and some folks claim great listening success with the GL's in the V70 or V40.
My cousin owns an octave v80 and is thinking about swapping his speakers for the Dyn Sapphires. He tells me that with the stock kt88s the mids are a little too glaring.
I found your post to be interesting as hes thinking of the Gold Lions.
Hello everybody! I also own a V70SE integrated and the stock tubes which this integrated is delivered with, here in Europe, are the 6550 ones (Svetlana). I am thinking also in rolling the tubes and my choice leans towards the GL KT88's, therefor any suggestion/personal experience is welcome.
If any interest for you, there is also a "tube list" for V40 posted on German DYI online store site which you can find here (document is in German)
I have an Octave V70SE (in black) with black box driving Dynaudio C1's signatures in Mocha. My source is a Merdian G08 with Nordost Frey Ic's and speaker cables. Sounds Fantastic to say the least
The stock tubes are the SED KT88's and have tried several output tubes. For the money I like the GL KT88 re-issues. Better more liquid mids - crystal clear highs and a tighter bass. The EAT KT88 diamond is even better than the GL's but very expensive. My favorite is the Tung Sol 6550 black plates. They have that EL34 magical midrange and better bass. Most important they have power the EL34's lack.
To me the SED and GL KT88's and SED 6550's sound more like solid state where the EL34's and TS 6550 black plate have a more tubey sound.
Octave has only been in the US for about 2 years. Octave is made in Germany and has been making amps for over 25 years.
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