1975 New Reflektor 6n23p SWGP or Siemens/Amperex/Telefunken Cca?

Good stuff wrm; thank you!  I'll look into both the Voskhods and the Red Label Valvos.

Thanks!

Yo petg, just bought 4  Voskhod 6n23p "1970s for export" Nationals

4 for the price of 1 Cca

The nervosa cure didn't last long

 

Much appreciated rodman.  I did try some NOS NIB French made Mazda (Dario labeled) blue tip e188cc from Brent Jessee in pursuit of a tad more harmonic richness, which indeed they delivered, but the sound was less real than the the afore mentioned Siemens provide.  Also tried some orange globe Amperex 7308; similar result.  

Getting the sense that there's probably not much room for improvement on this front...and the associated sense that I'm lucky to be where I'm at on this front!

Really lucky actually; the matched Siemens e188cc were bought from Upscale Audio in 1997 and used for only a few months in a Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 amp before selling the amp and stashing the tubes...only discovered the tubes in an old Rooney Brushes of England shaver box where I stashed them (24 years ago!) a couple months ago!  Yes, lucky indeed. 

Thanks very much for the experientially earned insights gentlemen.  I'll stick with those happily discovered Siemens tubes.  One case of audio nervosa cured :)    

Love this place. 

Once had a mentor tell me "All good scientist must have a latent masochistic streak"...what he meant was that, necessarily, scientists must enjoy the suffering that necessarily predicates the solving of hard problems.

Could be wrong, but, I think that audiophiles, by that definition, are good  scientists.  





  

I'll make sure to do so rodman.  They're coming from Poland with estimated delivery between March 2 and March 19, so will be a while, but I'll for sure return the kindness of you and the other Audiogoners who contributed their hard won experiential insights to my inquiry in this thread.

Yes on the Siemens grey plate Cca being a great tube.  As our our fellow audionaughts (nuts?) here have convinced me, I likely wouldn't notice much difference relative to the 1963 Siemens E188CCs that I'm currently running.

A bit more on the Voskhods that are on the way (they shipped within 5 hours of purchase!)...the link below if for the same tubes that I bought 4 of.  I've learned that one dead give away for Voskhod 6n23p that were made for export are the nickel plated pins...for corrosion resistance (domestic market have steel pins).  The export versions are said to be the best sounding.  Can clearly see the ones in the link have the nickel plated pins.       

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6N23P-ECC88-NATIONAL-VOSKHOD-TUBES-MATCHED-PAIR-NOS-NIB-E88CC-6DJ8-6922-197...

Okalee dokalee.  The Voskhod 'for export' mid 1970s 6n23p tubes showed up today.  Clearly NOS; clean Ni plated pins.  5 hours on tubes so far.  Definitely the "flow" thing is there.  Most notable relative to the Siemens, Amperex, Mullard and Dario tubes that I've been running is an engaging presentation that weaves moments together in an audio tapestry that sounds natural, normal...like music is happening.  Agree with others who have opined that these tubes don't impress, that rather they simply do nothing wrong...which becomes impressive.

Already know that for the highly resolving and "sunny" (which is not bright) Dodd battery powered preamp, this is the most balancing of that characteristic without sacrificing resolving capabilities tube of the E88CC type I've yet found.  

Stoked...in a word.

More as burn in happens.

Thanks for the recommendation petg! 

"Correct"...is right!

Here's an excerpt from what I wrote to the seller who had asked for a review of the tubes:

"They produce such a cohesive sonic picture, that is so correct and natural, that it actually facilitates a more relaxed, less "critical listening" engagement with music. This is the most elusive quality of any piece of audio equipment, to create a listening experience that contains so few ques that it is reproduced sound, that the mind spends so little time evaluating the experience that the experience actually becomes relaxing! 

I mean does one ever listen to a live concert and think "Wow, the shimmer of those cymbals is so realistic!"  Of course not!  One just relaxes and enjoys the music!  So it is with the Voskhods!"

With them in the Dodd (which uses only one triode per dual triode per channel, so can be swapped between channels to double the life of the tube in this circuit) and a spare pair of the Voskhods, I've got enough to  add the Dodd to my 'lifer' list along with the Cocci Audio Ultimate tube monoblocks.  As we all know, that's a huge achievement in our audio pursuits!

Thanks very much for that G! 

mike

Just a long duration sound review of the mid 70’s Voskhod 6n23p. Have been running the mid-70’as Voskhod 6N23Ps for the last year and a half. Today I put the Upscale Audio matched (purchased 25 years ago, played for about 2 months and then stashed for 23 years) Siemens E188CC (7308) back in...for about 5 minutes...relative crap. Tons of inter-soundstage haze; lots of hi-fi ooh-ahhs...nothing natural sounding. Put the Voskhods back in...WOW! Smooth, flowing, natural, insightful. What I want in my audio playback.

Just thought I’d report my checking reality experiment against a widely regarded top choice. Wasn’t even close. Voskhod kills Siemens. At least in this system.

Much thanks for turning me on to these amazing tubes petg60!

 

Our system is certainly one of the quietest on the planet. Dodd battery powered preamp...only one half of a dual triode tube and 1 V-Cap ODAM capacitor (bypassed by V-CAP CuTF capicitor) in the signal circuit and the only two Charlie Cocci Ultimate monoblock amps on the planet. These amps feature individual pi filtered power supplies for both the input stage and the output stages...3 Henry choke on the input stage and 8 Henry choke on the output stage...only 2 Dueland PIO CAST capacitors, 2 6BL7 and 4 KT77 tubes in the signal circuit. This is an incredibly quiet system. Which makes discerning tube sonics really easy :)

I’ve also noticed the abundance of both Voskhods and New Reflektors from Ukrainian sellers on ebay. I’m pretty well set for the rest of my Life with said, but any sane audiophile who has gear that uses 6DJ8/7308 family tubes would be exercising that sanity by replacing WHATEVER they’re currently using with these amazing tubes. I’m convinced that they are the stand out best in class of their type.

Thanks again petg60...following your advice to use these tubes is one of the smartest audio decisions I’ve ever made :)

Hi grey9hound. Yes, I’m sure that the Siemens are well broken in. Here’s what I wrote earlier in this thread: "...the matched Siemens e188cc were bought from Upscale Audio in 1997 and used for only a few months in a Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 amp before selling the amp and stashing the tubes...". Probably 300-500 hours of use in 1997...but probably another 400-600 hours in 2020-2021 in our Dodd Battery Powered preamp. So, yes, by any normal accounting, they’re well broken in.

Just something very special about the Voskhods.