HI John, Yeah i just got the amp (and yor article!) yesterday.. i havent even opend the amp yet. Definitely going with the hexfreds....and for coupling caps, i havent decided yet, i need to cost out auricaps versus the silver foil caps they are talking about in the article.. i am eager to compare this to the zen which also uses el84s in single ended mode, but uses a 6922 tube as driver, and has zero feedback. I want to see if power supply & coupling cap beef ups alsong with some NOS tubes can make this osund better than the zen (can;t use NOS tubes in zen since they run really hot and last a year). will keep you all posted. -akhilesh