Tube Help

[poppachubby]

Well I'm listening to my amp with the new (old) Sylvania tubes and it's sounding real fine!

Geoff, those are what I use in my SE40!! Mine have the green writing. They are excellent for bottom end. I bought 3 matched pairs and gave my tech a pair, so I am good for some time. Is it your Fisher that requires those?

Anyhow, I bought myself 3 matched pairs of the Tung Sols. After a long converation with Jon at The Tube Store, he convinced me to stick with my original decision. I was going to "upgrade" to Winged C's, but apparently these Tung Sol's are THE tube when it comes to an all around 6L6. Of course, this is all in the realm of the blue collar man, if one wants to spend upwards of $100/pair...sonic bliss awaits.

I also picked up a 1000V, shock proof slotted screwdriver for biasing.

Hey Pix, you can't imagine how good my rig sounds...

[Geoffcin]

Nice score. Nothing like a new set of output tubes to make your speaker sing!

Funny, that is EXACTLY what I wrote as my #1 difference between these Sylvania's and the Tung-Sol that they replaced. Just for kicks I put on Queens "Another one bites the dust" and the bass seemed to be a bit more forward than with the Tung-Sol. Both tubes are tight and well defined in the bass.

I'm up in the air on what to roll next. I was thinking on a nice pair of NOS Bugle Boy 12AX7....

[poppachubby]

I have original Mullards in my EICO, 12AX7 and a 6X4. Excellent tubes. I have another pair of NOS GE's which I switch in only occasionaly. Blackraven is a bit of a 12AX7 pro if you want some insight.

[poppachubby]

PC - let us know how it goes. I'm glad you are enjoying that GT.

Adam I will be forever in your debt, the Golden Tube is my pride and joy. For an everyday amp it's more than ideal, and as far as reference goes, I am knocking at the door. I'm hoping these new tubes will help squeeze some more detail out of an already detailed amp.

BTW, did you ever try running it in negative feedback mode? I have it in zero mode but I was wondering how it would sound. I may try it out while I am inside biasing. I will have to go back in after a week or so anyhow, so I can change it back. It's just a jumper that changes it, same with the mono/stereo option.

As I have told you before, my long term goal will be to get another SE-40 and run them both in mono. Can you imagine 80watts a side of Golden Tube-iness?!? Actually my tech bought himself an SE40 after seeing how great mine is, maybe he will sell down the road.

Once I do that, I would want to bust into the world of Electrostats. That will be it for me once I hit that mark, at least for my back end...hehhe.

Actually, I doubt I will get rid of my Ariston. Rather, I think I will eventually put a super fantastic arm/cart on it and call it a day.

[Geoffcin]

It might be worth it to identify all your old tubes. There's gold in them there tubes!

http://cgi.ebay.com/OUTRAGEOUS-5751-...item35ab9b25e5

[poppachubby]

Wow. Indeed NOS are expensive but you get what you pay for. Hav eyou seen the TJ Music tubes Geoff? They are well regarded. Theres a guy at AK who's ears and gear I trust, he gave them rave reviews as compared to NOS tubes.

http://grantfidelity.com/site/TJ_Full_Music_12AX7

[pixelthis]

"Or you can join the 21st century and buy some solid state gear."

another revealing comment by the BRILLIANT PIXEL ! most of us have gone away from solid state BACK to tubes for superior sound. and what happens when a transistor goes bad, do YOU change it ?

Its all your imagination old sot, a transistor will outlive a tube by thousands of years.
AND people who hate the fantasy world occupied by tube worshipers will be here long
after they are gone, just a matter of time.
PERHAPS you will learn the difference between distortion and accurate sound.
SOMEDAY.

[pixelthis]

[QUOTE=Geoffcin]Just pix throwing grenades again and hoping someone will fall on it.

Actually they haven't used tubes in MiG aircraft since the 60's so there's no chance of that happening. Surprisingly though the British continued to make military grade tubes into the 80's. A lot of their old military kit was sold to the "colonies" after WWII and there was a decent market for replacement parts for a long time.

[pixelthis]

Well I'm listening to my amp with the new (old) Sylvania tubes and it's sounding real fine!

doing that while you run the underwear over the old washboard, eh?
Gonna put the spats on and head for Tuxedo Junction later on?

[Geoffcin]

Why Pix, you've been peaking in my windows again?

[JoeE SP9]

I used to think and act like Pix. Then I realized I didn't know everything. That's called growing up.

Listening to some tube gear years ago as a fresh BS E.E. was a real ear opener. I learned two things that day; one, "Specs aren't everything" and two, "Trust your ears". One has to listen with an open mind. If your mind is already made up you'll hear only what you want to hear. Of course, this is dependant on having sufficient hearing acuity.

I sometimes wonder if having ears that can't hear what tubes bring to reproduced sound is the same as being intellectually challenged. "Special people" seem to always be quite happy. Probably because they don't realize what they are missing.

[hifitommy]

THANK YOU JOE. i may have overstated the case that we all went back to tubes but pixi likes to pish in the snow so everyone can see. tubes MIGHT make sense to him if he ever took the time to listen to some audio research or VTL gear.

its not as if i dont use ss gear. if one checks my profile whic references this:

http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/588.html

[E-Stat]

I used to think and act like Pix. Then I realized I didn't know everything. That's called growing up.

I learned that lesson in 1974 when I heard Audio Research gear compared with Harmon-Kardon and Crown having lower THD specs on Magneplanar Tympanis. He's not there yet.

rw

[JoeE SP9]

I think there are several stages to this addiction.

1. Discovery: This is when you hear decent audio for the first time. You then decide you want this for yourself.
2. Collection: This is when you start collecting anything and everything pertaining to audio. Many infected people never get past this stage. They are the ones with 42 pair of speakers they keep switching back and forth with the 24 different receivers they own.
3. Technical: Frequently this is simultaneous with “Collection”. Numbers and specs become all important at this stage. An obsession with lower distortion figures and S/N ratio are typical symptoms.
4. Maturity: The final stage of “Audiophilia Nervosa”. At this point the infected person puts together one really good system. Specs although taken into consideration are just not that important. This system has only one aim; to reproduce music. All the component parts have been selected because to the user they sound better. They could be tubed, solid state or driven by hamsters in a cage. The resulting sound is what matters.

Unfortunately many of the infected get stuck in stage 2 or 3. In stage 2 they are very enthusiastic and fun to be around. Those stuck in stage 3 spend most of their time telling others what they can and can't hear. Those people are not fun.

Stage 4 victims are easy to identify. They almost never have a receiver. They have had the same gear for a while. They don't have multiple sets of anything. They talk about what they listen to and how it sounds.

[audio amateur]

Collection: This is when you start collecting anything and everything pertaining to audio. Many infected people never get past this stage. They are the ones with 42 pair of crappy speakers they keep switching back and forth with the 24 different receivers they own.

I hope not too many people here read this

[JoeE SP9]

I'll go back and edit out the word "crappy".

[E-Stat]

[*]Collection: This is when you start collecting anything and everything pertaining to audio. Many infected people never get past this stage. They are the ones with 42 pair of speakers they keep switching back and forth with the 24 different receivers they own.

Would this system be indicative of the type?

rw

[Geoffcin]

Let's just stick to "Tube help" here and leave the denegration of other peoples audio choices to another thread.

[Geoffcin]

Hey, just won a pair of NOS Phillips 7025's on Ebay!

Going to switch out my 12AX7's and see if there's any difference.

[poppachubby]

Hey, just won a pair of NOS Phillips 7025's on Ebay!

Going to switch out my 12AX7's and see if there's any difference.

Geoff do you use any 6L6/5881's?

[Geoffcin]

Geoff do you use any 6L6/5881's?

No, my integrated uses KT88 output tubes right now, but it can use KT90's or 6550's. The Fisher 500c uses the Electro Harmonix 7591a output tubes.

[JoeE SP9]

UPS delivered the tubes for my MKIII's Friday. Two matched pair's of Tung Sol 6550's and four Phillips JAN 6922's. Put in all the new tubes. Connected them to some Minimus 7's. Set the bias and let them "burn in" a little. No signal applied. Saturday afternoon I install them in my room, warm them up,.set the bias and play some music.

They have about 20 hours on them now and have improved slightly since Saturday.
Tubes and "stats"

[audio amateur]

Would this system be indicative of the type?

rw

loooool, too funny!

[poppachubby]

loooool, too funny!

Indeed, the choice of drapes really helps to bring out the gear.

[audio amateur]

Indeed, the choice of drapes really helps to bring out the gear.

I liked E-Stat's post as a whole, not just the picture But the picture is good too

Dude, im still waiting on those cables