Tube recomendations for a newbie


I have just purchased a Mingda Mei Xing tube intergrated amplifier. I live in Shanghai, China. I'm new to tubes and the amp is supplied with Chinese tubes. I'm wondering if swapping tubes on this amp will provide better sound quality? If so, any recommendations? I believe the tube configuration is: EL34 x4(JJ)、12AU7 x2、12AX7 x2. The system will play mostly jazz, classical, reggae. Speakers are Wharfedale evolution 2 bookshelf speakers. Thanks...
dgplo

Showing 1 response by trelja

Btstrg, our experiences are the opposite of one another. While I am not the biggest fan of Chinese amplifiers, as they sometimes miss on either design or implementation, among other things, I actually think the tubes have become quite good. In the majority of cases they're far better than the Russian alternatives of today in my opinion.

Not sure about the 12AX7 you had, but the Shuguang 12AX7B with triple mica are a definite best buy in my opinion. I did hear the previous version were pretty lousy. Do you know if you had the double or triple mica version?