Leak Stereo 20

Why would you bother when ECC83s are so plentiful?

 

Hey @chiily , I ordered these on 5 Jan and they arrived this morning - excellent comms from the seller. I'll get them fitted and warmed up in the Leak and report back.

 

As described - a little more crisp and detailed than the Sovtek EL84 previously in situ. A couple of 'oddities' though; they smell a little of heat which I presume is the fact they are 'new' or have been cleaned; I was supplied five(!); and they look to be different makes, one of which glows brighter than the rest - it does have a slightly different vertical plate setup than the rest.

All in all, good so far.

 

Ah, you received five too? I was a bit confused about that. I shall have a look to see if it is a different construction, I've not looked that closely.

Are how you get on with the sound? I prefer the sharper sound of these valves. The Leak has a quite modern sound, if there is such a thing, these valves add a little more to that. Either that, or my hearing is really going downhill.

 

How are you getting on with the Leak @foxwelljsly ?

 

I can't argue with that description at all and I played a couple of LPs I know (Amused to Death, Jordan: The Comeback) to confirm the sharper sound. Eight sides later, yeah I'm convinced.

Regarding the construction of the valves, I got three similarly labelled and two with different stamps. One of those two seems to glow a little brighter and be a different construction but I need another look at it now it's cooled down. I'll report back

 

He hasn't got it back from me yet but it's all done and sounds very bit as wonderful as it should.

The previous 'repairer' had made a right old mess so it was quite a lot of work to get it right.

 

Yet to pick it up from Mike! This one’s my father’s and Mike is also recapping his ancient Kef Concerto crossovers.

I had one previously with a Khozmo pre and some 11 ohm LS3/5as and Kef 103.2s but preferred my Quad QSP, so sold it on. Research since suggests I should have probably tried some fancier tubes.

 

Ha! See Mike beat me to it!

 

Well, keep us posted...

Which fancier valves are you going for?

 

The Ukrainian EL84s you linked to and a Telefunken ECC83 in the number one position.

Surprisingly, not an expensive solution.

 

You shouldn't be disappointed with those EL84s.

 

Oh yeah, doh!

 

Can anyone advise before I go inside the Leak? One of my RCA jacks is a bit loose - are they fixed with a nut inside the case?

Cheers.

 

Two self tapping screws.

 

Thanks Mike - on it.

 

Much as I like the Mullards I bought, you don’t have to spend that much on valves to get very close to the best out of the ST20, just follow various advice on this thread.

 

Some days back I played around with my setup, Naim 32, 110, 101 and snaps for the tuner and pre. bc1 speakers, streamer and a Thorens for the records. 110 is #7xx and recapped, 32 is #8xx and untouched. Sounds nice, very nice indeed.


The volume pot of the nac is strange, very small changes up to 12 o’clock, useful area until 15 o’clock and then quick to full throttle. Not linear, not logarithmic but a good channel linear old fashioned Alps. Works very well with the 110 when you got used to it.


But….this nac should be great for sensitive amps like a quad ii/303 or the leak stereo 20. My 20 has been sympathetically rebuilt by classique sounds and is a reliable great performer.


Guess what, 32 and 20 are best friends now. The strange volume pot is perfect for the sensitive poweramp. Also bc1 are very happy campers now, this really sounds awesome. Not that 110 was a bad choice but with 20 it’s so airy, fast and detailed.


The bc1 are 1975 vintage but with ceramic drivers. Instead of the 3uf the bass is coupled with 2uf. The tweeter has 1.5uf instead of .33uf/.47uf. Planned was to recap the crossover. One supertweeter open circuit but a nos available. But hey, this sounds so fun that fiddling around with the crossover might be by the book but not that fun anymore.


For my taste the leak plays best with Mullard, first ecc is a long plate valvo.