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Tubes, cheese, wine and cognac

Perhaps, similar questions have been earlier be posted.

I cannot explain why old made tubes should sound better, do they really sound better than new made ones? Or are tubes similar to wine and cheese and need time to get better?

What kind of tools or knowledge was available in 50s, 60s and 70s that is not available?

(Can Egyptian pyramids be built now?)

I didn't try any NOS old made EL-34 tubes in my amp. So far,  tried five different new made tubes , including Mullard, Gold Lion and Tang Sol Russian replicas. None of them have more than 10 hours or so. So far, Tang Sols are the best , Gold Lions, which were considerably more expensive are notably worse, Mullards sound the worst in my system. I didn't try Psvane yet, perhaps i will do that in near future. There are a few Chinese reissues, including UK El34 and El 34ph, the latter ones are twice more expensive. They put the tubes in nice boxes like chocolates and sell them more expensive. 

But would NOS tubes sound much better?

128x128niodari
wolf_garcia
6,600 posts
 

For years I found pretty much all Gold Lion tubes (120w, 150s, 88s, 66s)to be amazingly good in a couple of different power amps, and the KT66s are my preferred tubes in my current fave tube amp, a SEP Dennis Had Firebottle HO (high output, such as it is). Both the Had amp and my Schiit Freya have 6SN7GTB tubes (one in the Had) and my faves are NOS GEs (relatively inexpensive as far as it goes) having tried lots of other brands. Vintage Amperex tubes are great also but harder to find. I have a drawer full of tubes to show for tuberism...tubism...tubophelia? The Had amp is currently resting as a Pass XA-25 is doing the amp work, and it requires far fewer tubes it seems but it still gets pretty hot so at least there's that. 

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,450 posts
 

I just put a early 50's NOS RCA 12au7 in my preamp and new production tubes just don't have the tone they originals do, they just don't

blue-magoo's avatar
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blue-magoo
138 posts
 

Everyone agrees that the old sound better. There are some newer small companies that are making some great sounding tubes. The question is how? Is it the glass, the solder, the wiring or metal used in the plates? Or just the craftsman's touch.

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
297 posts
 

I think that in that era tube production was crucial as there where no semiconductors and tubes were used not only for home for entertainment but also in military equipment. Nowadays tube production is no more if a primary importance, it is done for some audio fans and perhaps enough  attention  is not given to this matter. This is my personal interpretation. I already tried a number of different new production El34 tubes including Russian Mullards, Tang Sol, Gold Lion and Chinese Shuguang which are twice cheaper. All of them give more or less similar results, no drastic differences. I expected Golden lions would be better, but i think  twice less expensive Tang Sol is a bit better in my 5 watts SET amp. 

I just replaced JJ E88CC input tubes with Soviet 6n23p. These tubes are basically used for phono amplification in this amp. The Soviet tubes give a considerably more power and more airy reproduction. None of the JJ that i tubes i had i liked, i knew I needed to replace them. 

Does anybody know if el34 can be replaced with Russian 6n3c tubes? A correct replacement would be Russian 6p37c but it is difficult to find them. I  just ordered a pair of NOS Millard  El  34s.  Will post on my impressions once I try them. 

 

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