Impression on Pilot 240 vs Pilot sp-210 and sa-232 combo
I just got a pilot 240 last week from ebay. By looking at it, it feels well built. However,the output transformers on the 240 are very tiny comparing to the one from 232. Before I fired the 240, I looked down at it already.
I thought it would sound very worse and weak than 232. I warmed it up with a variac for a couple hours. Then I listened to it. I put all telefunken ribbed plates 12ax7 in there with amprerexgz34 and el84. I was suprized with the sound. It sounds close to the232 combo. The sound is very mellow, sweet, balance, and detail. I think it is even more detail than my sa-232 combo. So I tried thetele smooth plate later. The image is better with better high. Perhaps it is too bright for my ears.
To confirm the result, I tried my 232 combo. I have 3 different versions of sp210. One is the console version one with some good-all caps and some black beauty caps. The second one is a home version with all goodall caps. The third one is the one with all black beauty caps. Well, since the 240 uses all black beauty caps, I used the210 with all black beauty caps with the 232 with good all caps (I have 2 sa-232 but they all with good all caps). The 232 combo sounds a bit slower and also smoother comparing to 240. The sound is very very close to the 240.
Lately the 232 has been asking more and more on ebay. I think the240 is a very good buy to start with. I would say it is a very good amp. The only problem is that it is an integrated amp. Please post your experience with 240 or 232 if you have time!
Take care,
Johnny Pang
