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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
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.
eagle
154 posts
 
The majority of the new tube production is sold to musicians and related gear. The sales of tubes for Hifi are small by comparison. Like audiophiles, many musicians realized the sonic benefits of some NOS tubes and it was just a matter of time until tube manufacturers found it profitable to emulate the qualities of those old tubes. With proper designs, materials, and production techniques, there is no reason why new tubes will not be as good or better than the best of the NOS tubes, if they aren't already.
Without the musician's demand, it's very possible there would be no companies producing new tubes and the NOS supply would have already been depleted.

Newbee, Because of the good results from the new EH6922, I want to also try the JJ E88CC and Ei 6DJ8.
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