🔷 Monolith Liquid Platinum

I bought this amp and i’m loving it. When using the volume pot i have to tune it by the micrometer lol. But ive got good motor control so its not a problem lol.

Ive been tube rolling on this amp a lot and i was surprise to find out that the 6N1P-EV 6DJ8 ECC88 6922 Russian NOS doesn’t work on it. I contacted the seller on ebay and he said they dont work on it and its a known issue. anyone heard about this?

I also just tried a pair of Mullards on it and they did not work either. the seller said “these are the incorrect tube for the Liquid Platinum. That preamp should be using 6922s rather than 12AU7s.” I guess this tube thing isnt as simple as i thought lol.

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6DJ8’s are pin compatible with a 6922, but they aren’t rated for the same voltage IIRC.
i.e. it’s safe to replace a 6DJ8 with a 6922, but not the other way around.
12A?7’s etc are completely not compatible, they have a different filament Voltage among other “issues”.

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I dont understand all this stuff. i’m new to tubes. can you list the model numbers for the tubes that work with it so i dont buy the wrong tubes in the future?

The easiest way to do this is troll the head-fi thread on tube rolling for the Liquid Platinum and try some of the suggestions. Bear in mind some people are using adapters.

Or stick to things you can verify are actual 6922’s or E88CC’s.
Note ECC88 is a 6DJ8, and E88CC is a 6922.

Just because you can plug it into the socket doesn’t mean it will work or even that it’s safe to do so, there is a chance you could destroy the amp by plugging the wrong tube in there.

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Both the 6922 and the 6DJ8 both are spec’d for the same heater voltage: 6.3V. They differ in the amount of heater current they draw: 300mA for the 6922 and 365mA for the 6DJ8. Alex Cavalli mentioned that one shouldn’t use tubes that draw over 350mA of heater current (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/liquid-platinum-tube-rollers.898852/post-14799862), which rules out using the 6DJ8 with the LP for long-term use (it draws too much heater current).

7308’s are spec’d at 6.3V and draw 335mA of heater current, but are generally pricier than the 6922’s.

If you have a preamp, a passive volume controller (e.g. JBL’s nanopatch), or can control the volume from your dac/source, then you can turn the volume of the Liquid Platinum to its unity gain (around 1:30pm on volume knob). Someone set their preamp gain down to -10dB on their player (Liquid Spark vs Monolith THX 887). When I use the unity gain, I set my player’s preamp down -12dB. Tbh, I like the sound without fiddling with my preamp settings despite having to whip out the old micrometer from time to time :wink:

Can you describe what the benefit of being at the amp’s unity gain is?

At unity gain, input and output of a component have the same voltage levels.
Having unity gain throughout a signal chain helps with SNR and distortion.

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I had the same issue on my first LP. I ordered another LP from monoprice and this one was better but the jump was still there at 10-11. It sounds great i get it but I can’t be bothered with such a giant leap in sound. Sending it back for the last time and getting a LYR 3. It may not be the same sound wise but has no shouty issues on the pot. My chain was a BF2 > balanced cables > LP > Balanced 250 ohm HP’s.

A quick workaround would be to lower your pre-amp gain so that you can comfortably use volumes above 11 o’clock, but yeah the LP really needed a gain switch.

I don’t think you can lower the volume with a BF2.
I wondered about that as I use my SU-8 to lower the input volume by quite a bit.
And still my efficient headphones are limited to a range of 8:00-9:00 and my lees efficient headphones top out at 10:00-11:00.

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I use Musicbee and lowering the pre-amp gain using its built-in EQ by 7-10dB does the trick for me.

Most, if not all music players have that feature. Or you can simply lower the volume on your DAC using the volume slider on your OS.

Depends on your situation. My music system is not tied up with my computer and I don’t use streaming.

We could use a workaround to make up for a faulty pot but for a $500 piece of equipment it should at least function properly. Oh well i guess something else will have to do.

It does have a great sound though. At least for us quiet listeners. :slight_smile:

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That is does , :+1:

Is it known for sure that the volume bump is down to a shitty pot rather than circuit design?

Just posted this in the deals thread, it’s on sale for $293.74. I feel like this is a price to clear stock type of thing… https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=33305

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well the new matching dac is coming out, so I wouldnt think so

I assume people are buying the LAu now so LP isn’t selling well.