2. amps-preamps
  3. 1074754467

SLI-80 which 6SN7?

Sorry to start yet another SLI-80 thread, but I found no thread that covered my specific question.

I'm interested to know from Cary owners ( as well as 6SN7 lovers ) which 6SN7 is the best. I hear good things about the Sylvania, but there are many versions of this company. Including chrome dome, and brown base that I hear talk about. Also I see that Tung-Sol, GE, Raytheon, RCA are readily available. Also since these tubes are " one for each channel " do they need to be perfectly matched?

I'm also curious to know how much of a improvement the " signature " version adds to this amp. And how many versions are there?

thanks in advance!
theseeker

Showing 1 response by jazzdude

jazzdude
332 posts
 
I don't have a cary, but I do have a tube preamp with 6SN7's. Generally I have found that I prefer the 1940's era tubes over later iterations. I also prefer bottom-getter 6SN7's over top-getter types. There are 4 6SN7's in particular that I would recommend. 1) Sylvania VT-231 1940's, 2) Sylvania 6SN7GT tall-boy similar to VT-231 construction but with green lettering on the base, 3) Ken Rad 6SN7GT/VT-231 black-glass 1940's, 4) RCA 6SN7GT/VT-231 grey-glass 1940's.

Unless your preamp is a push/pull configuration there is no need for tube matching. Most "matched pairs" aren't really matched anyway.
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