2. amps-preamps
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Is there a worthy 6922 presently made?

Why hasn't any tube manfacturer designed a good sounding 6922 tube? The paucity of decent designs only fuels the exorbitant price gouging the tube dealers are doing with NOS 6922/6DJ8.

I think it is pretty universally accepted among tube fans that the Sovtek 6922 is a dependable & strong tube, but a sterile, thin, & dead sounding device. Some have praised the JJ 6922, while others have proclaimed it rather mediocre, and some have blown up their amplifiers, like an ARC owner who burned out parts of his VT-100's circuit board when attempting to substitute the JJ's for the stock Sovteks in the input stage.

Sovtek's owner, New Sensor, has come out with a "new" 6922 in the form of an Electroharmonix 6922, with claims it is significantly better than the Sovtek. But some have said it is nearly the identical tube and sounds nearly identical. Audio Research claims it is a better tube, but.....

Why hasn't Svetlana designed a 6922? Or someone else? We are left with two tubes made by the same manufacturer, and one from Czechoslovakia. That's it! Any thoughts or experiences?
kevziek
john_tracy
341 posts
 
I have both USA and Holland 'pinched waist' Amperex tubes and $800/pair is probably excessive. Anyway, they are too bright in my system; all amperex tubes are. They actually hurt my ears. I believe it's called tweeter burn. What seems to do the trick for me with my current setup are plain steel pin Mullard 6DJ8s from the 1960s. At $25-40/tube that's not that much more than current production tubes. But isn't that why many of us use tubes? So we can tweek and tune? I hope you do find some current production tubes that suit you. Like twl wrote, that means more NOS for the rest of us.
kevziek OP
323 posts
 
It is fine to love NOS tubes, but don't have a disrespectful and condescending attitude towards those of us who simply aren't interested in spending gobs of money on supposed NOS tubes. I've been there, done that, know people who have, and there are plenty of tubes supposedly NOS and highly tested that are not what they are being represented as. Speak to Bob at Eurotubes (US distributor for JJ tubes) and he'll tell you this: Tubes can measure as new and be highly used. He has measured highly used old stock tubes and they will have strong, as new, measurements for thousands of hours. Then, they will suddenly show a rapid decline in performance and readings as they approach the end of their useful life.

Ken Stevens of CAT has some pretty harsh comments to make on supposed NOS tubes and their suppliers. Go to the following link: http://www.soundstagelive.com/factorytours/cat/
and open your eyes.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
I guess I've been here too long, reading about the wonders of nos tubes. I have posted this exact statement in a few posts in the past.--Regarding el34s. ------ I bought a CJ 5 about 3 years ago. It came with 2 tube sets. The seller said he liked the Svets best. So I put them in and listened for near a week. --Then I put the Siemans in. right away I just loved the difference.--"tube/ mid magic"---Never put the Svets back in. For whatever that's worth.
baldeagle
21 posts
 
dear keviek you should give the good old philips or sylvania 6922 jan new old stock a try you will have nothing to loose you can get them at parts express for 6 or 7 bucks . i have tried them in preamps, phono stages, and dac's and in almost all cases they are as good or better then any thing they have been compaired to , i and some of my fiends have used almost all of the others things talked about in this post. so give it a shot all you have to loose is 20 bucks which will include shipping.
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Kevziek, No one has mentioned the EI 6dj8's (perhaps because its not a good 6922 substitute). Aside from some quality control problems this is a nice new production tube. Count me in as a supporter of the JJ tubes, although I like the older Tesla grey plates somewhat better. FWIW I share your dislike for those demeaning opinions from folks who think they have the corner on intelligence for having found NOS tubes that they enjoy - they sound much like school yard bullies. I have a draw full of NOS tubes but 50% of the tubes I use are current production. Its not the tube so much as how you use it that really counts. I've still got a dozen Bugle Boys I haven't found a use for yet, maybe someday.
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