Author Topic: Valves. The best sounding varieties of all time, vintage and new production  (Read 67878 times)

Offline Jehuty

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Hi William

Thanks for your comments William they are much appreciated.

Craig has sent me the kdac and it's currently awaiting me at home  ;D ;D ;D however I'm currently away at work  :( :( :(

On the upside I am going home Wednesday and I'm changing employers and have about 6 weeks straight at home in which to spend with Kdac ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

My wife being 20 weeks pregnant will require some of the attention of course  ::) ::) ::) Priorities and all.

I am looking forward to inserting the GEC and firing it all up.

Cheers
Matt

Congratz on all the good things happening in your life Matt. Great times ahead, enjoy!
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Offline stevenvalve

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Had a listen to a pair of new production 6SN7s, just to see if they have closed the gap (sound wise) on the great vintage stuff. The 6SN7 is branded Full music with a brass base ($185) this tube is not cheap and has a good reputation as an excellent sounding tube. Its opponent is a pair of brown base Mullard 1950s ECC32 ($800) considered the best sounding 6SN7 variant. To my surprise the full music does sound very good indeed, typical Chinese sounding, a little soft, polite, lacking leading edge, vague, Its sins are of omission rather than commission, and also on the plus side it was not dark, and most important, it is musical. Probably tuned for the modern typically hard analytical cd players that predominate the landscape, Have the newer tubes reached the level of the vintage tubes at this time.  Not yet, but they are getting closer.    

Offline Jehuty

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Great stuff Steve. There's hope for new production valves after all. How do you like the Full Music compared to the red base RCA 5692 (or maybe 5691)? Because a pair of the red base go for almost the same money.

Thanks,
William
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Offline kajak12

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    • http://killerdac.com/forum/index.php
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el34 metal base current production makes me wonder
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline qwerter

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el34 metal base current production makes me wonder
They do look good. I might try them out. $400 quad shipped on ebay.

Offline kajak12

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    • http://killerdac.com/forum/index.php
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el34 metal base current production makes me wonder
They do look good. I might try them out. $400 quad shipped on ebay.
I would try but i need 8 maybe next year i will take a punt
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline Jehuty

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http://psvanetube.com/wordpress/

el34 metal base current production makes me wonder
They do look good. I might try them out. $400 quad shipped on ebay.

Hi qverter,

Where are you located? Have you got EL34 double D getter? You could buy the D getter on eBay for the same amount of money and they last for a long time, I reckon they are much more reliable than the current production ones. If you're interested, I could bring some for comparison.

Cheers,
William
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Offline stevenvalve

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Offline gamve

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Re: Valves. The best sounding varieties of all time, vintage and new production
« Reply #48 on: December 08, 2013, 08:43:42 PM »
If only they were 50, 45 ,2A3 etc. Quality of construction seems to be there?

Offline zenelectro

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Re: Valves. The best sounding varieties of all time, vintage and new production
« Reply #49 on: December 08, 2013, 09:31:06 PM »
These are supposed to be very good, about time.

http://vinylsavor.blogspot.de/2013/05/211-and-845-triodes-made-in-germany.html

Awesome!

They even look the part - German business like - kind of un Chinese  :)

Now the painful question - $$?

Z

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Valves. The best sounding varieties of all time, vintage and new production
« Reply #50 on: December 08, 2013, 09:41:09 PM »
I believe the 211 is about $1500-$1800 pair. 845 more.

Offline Jehuty

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Re: Valves. The best sounding varieties of all time, vintage and new production
« Reply #51 on: December 08, 2013, 11:23:49 PM »
See: http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/elrog/elrog-main-page.htm

Elrog 845: €1,239.65 (ex.VAT) matched pair
Elrog 211: € 1,107.45 (ex.VAT) matched pair
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Offline stevenvalve

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Many valve heads consider these to be the best 45 tubes ever made, The Rogers Long plate 45, 1930, made in Canada. These where mine, but unfortunately I sold them last year, all measured like new. 
« Last Edit: August 08, 2014, 07:24:46 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline Jehuty

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Oh my...bloody hell Steve, they are as rare as rockin horse sh1t!

@hedalfa This IS the 45 to get....if you can find any....
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Offline Jehuty

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Another good 2A3 monoplate is the FIVRE made in ITALY. Very nice tube, better that the genuine RCA monoplate. I have had many of these, including two that where the sort after earlier model with the side support rods (new in box).

Found one: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2A3-Fivre-Monoplate-Aeronautica-Militare-TRIODE-1930-100-Emission-amp-GM-/331274326330
Went for A$490.80  :-\

Pics:


Is it the right one Steve?
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Offline stevenvalve

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These are the cream 1930 2A3 monoplate FIVRE made in ITALY. These are the earlier Monoplate with the metal pins instead or the mica.  I sold these 2 New in Box for around $1800.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2014, 12:04:51 AM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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These are also cream, 1930, RCA 2A3 monoplate, made in USA. I sold these 3 New in Box
« Last Edit: August 08, 2014, 11:59:23 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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 1930, 2A3 monoplate FIVRE made in ITALY. These are a little different with ceramic bases and mica.

Offline stevenvalve

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These are nice, 1930s National Union 2A3 monoplate,

Offline stevenvalve

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Kenrad 2A3 1930s monoplate nice tube.