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Shuguang Treasure tubes....

I'm not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes....Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled "FRAGILE: GLASS!" was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever....or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!...right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they're this good right out of the box I can't wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I'm no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I'm one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the "CV-181", this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7's and I'm very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
johngp

Showing 4 responses by grantfidelity

grantfidelity's avatar
grantfidelity
21 posts
 
Jwm, here is one reviewer (Mark Wheeler - TNT UK) who has a different opinion. You are of course entitled to yours :)

http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/shuguang_treasures_cv181_e.html

Cheers,
Ian
grantfidelity's avatar
grantfidelity
21 posts
 
Hi John, this is Rachel here from Grant Fidelity.

I spoke with both Shuguang and the TNT-Audio.com reviewer about the CV181-Z specs and compatability with other CV181 tubes. TNT-Audio.com's comments were based on reviewer's assumption that the Treasure CV181-Z was of the same spec as other CV181's. The reviewer is in the process to put a note to the original review to clarify the issue. (It's summer vacation time now so the website isn't updated weekly until later next month). The reviewer's comments about CV181 tubes vs. 6SN7 tube are valid to all conventional CV181's, but not to the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z.

If you still have doubts or concerns before using the Treasure CV181-Z in your amps, do forward a copy of the specs (published on our website) to your amp manufacturer to get a final confirmation.

Thank you.
Rachel @ Grant Fidelity
grantfidelity's avatar
grantfidelity
21 posts
 
JohnP, there is a very positive (as in replaces his NOS favourites)review over on TNT-Audio for the CV-181's.

Cjfrbw, the very unfortunate thing about factory matching is that they think +/- 20% is fine for matching, which is the industry norm and as cool as their test gear is, the Amplitrex AT-1000 tester gives much more accurate and detailed results. We do have to rematch everything we recieve. Btw, NOS and other new production tubes also don't fair well in the Amplitrex for close 'Hi-end' matching. It can take many pairs to create a good pair and gets harder for quads etc. We hope our gear has at least 5% tolerance between parts in each channel, 2% being our specs and I've seen some guys go even lower to 1%, kind of doesn't make sense to throw in 20% tolerance tubes or worse eh !

Cheers,
Ian
grantfidelity's avatar
grantfidelity
21 posts
 
The Treasure tubes lifespan:
- large power tubes - 3,000-5,000 hours under normal use
- preamp tubes - 5,000-8,000 hours under normal use

If the tubes were tested properly when sold, a good quality pair should last to its full lifespan.

Grant Fidelity is the first international distributor selling Shuguang Treasure tubes since Jan 2009. Out of the hundreds we have sold, the good quality ones (A grade) never have any one fail to now except occasional shipping related damage, which is replaced right away. No A grade tube fail yet during consumer's use. We have only sold B grade for 6 months - hard to tell how long B grade is going to last but price is largely discounted for anticipated shorter life due to inferior test results.

Sample tube test results are available at dedicated Treasure tube website: www.shuguangtreasure.com.
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