Finally arrived. The expectation was I’d be paddling through rolling waves of mid-range. That’s not happening. These things are dynamic and they have drive. The tone is crazy. It’s like the music is coming from another dimension 🙂
The bass is powerful and wrenching (yet still liquid) exploding out into the room from the bottom center of soundstage.The upper-mid-range percussion is just splatting in mid-air directly in front of the speakers. The vocals are positioned in the dead center….just smooth, soft and airy. The highs have sparkle and rainbow over the speakers. There’s lots of space surrounding the different sounds and instruments.
These are grand slam kind of tubes. The ability to totally take over the room. Every sound is pronounced. Some sounds are tight and defined, while some are liquid and wet. And some somehow manage to do both.
I’ve only been listening for 5 hours, or so. Totally different than the Westinghouse tubes I just pulled out, but definitely on par. Â So my gf will come over “i don’t know, i don’t really hear a difference”. Fine, then you can go home 🙂
Mullard CV491 Long Plates Cage Getter – 5 Stars
Hi jsch123 ,
Have you compared the CV491 to the CV4003, is it worth the the extra dosh . Would appreciate any feedback . Thanks
Hi Jazzy,
Sorry for the late replay. Hopefully this is still helpful. I would say no. They are better than the CV4003’s, much better in my opinion. But like all mullards they aren’t universal. So if you listen to a broad range of music, I think you’re going to feel like you need swap them out at times. That’s frustrating when they go for $450/pair, or whatever they are now. I think all tube rollers must be a little crazy, because it’s just a never ending elusive chase for the perfect tube. Which I don’t think exists. Go ahead and throw these in which some live “Yusef Lateef” and listen to them sound rich and beautiful. Take it up a notch and put in some “Shpongle” and you’ll know what I’m talking about in the review above. But modern rock, like Arctic Monkeys, or even the beatles (or anything where you just want to here accuracy) and “the Haze” starts to become a limiting factor. And then you put in the Teslas, and so on, and so on.. 🙂
Hello,
I fully agree with all your comments above.
I have used Mullard CV491 for a long time and I was really impressed – these are the best tubes I ever had!
But yesterday I have decided to switch back to Teslas. Why? I do not know… Just looking for something else…
How can we stop this madness?!
😉
I actually mixed these with the Tesla’s not too long ago…very entertaining. The mix of “thickness, speed, dynamics, and inner detail” in the midrange was just mesmerizing.