Does it make sense to use 6k$ Nos tube with 5K$ tube amplifier?


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Yesterday I inserted original Western Electric 300B made in 1930’s to Line Magnetic 508 amplifier.

After I got LM 508 on Aug 2018 and I had done lot of tube rolling.

Now I have Psavne Acme 805, 1944 Sylvania vt231(6SN7), Mullard ECC85(6SL7) and Synergistic Blue power cable and fuse with it.

Isoacoustics Orea Bordeaux foot is also under LM 508.


I had been hesitant to try my original Western Electric 300B with LM 508 amplifier.

After paying 3k$ for pair 17 years ago, I had run 10K hours on the tube with Silbatone 300B 8W SET amplifier.

It still sound fine with 5K - 10K hours more remaining.



But it is hard to get good NOS Western Electric 300B tube anymore and it get more expensive ( more than 6K for pair now).


I had tried Sophia Carbon Plate 300B and Shuguang Treasure 300B on LM 508.

With Sophia Carbon Plate, I got slightly deeper bass with more refined treble.

With Shuguang Treasure, I got more details and tight and deeper bass with wider soundstage.


Now with original Western Electric 300B, I got much more and cleaner details and tighter bass with transparent and wider and deeper soundstage.


The most notable difference is more details and transparent soundstage.

I had not expected that much improvement with original Western Electric 300B.

After going back to Sophia Carbon Plate, it sound warm but boring with less details and less transparent sound.

Thus I had to go back to original Western Electric 300B.

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When I play " Songbird" of Eva Cassidy with original Western Electric 300B, she appears to sing in front of me with spooky presence.

Now I got into trouble.

I do not want to put valuable original Western Electric 300B into LM 508.


20 years ago, replica of Western Electric had been made and I compared it with original Western Electric 300B.

It turned out that replica was no match to original Western Electric 300B.

Replica had crude and less details and narrower soundstage.


Although they claim to make another replica of Western Electric 300B, I do not have much expectation from my previous experience.

I placed order of Psavne Acme 300B tube yesterday which cost me 900$.

Psavne Acme 805 is the best new production tube with natural details and transparent soundstage.

I do not expect Acme 300B to be better than original Western Electric 300B.

But if Acme 300B is 90% as good as original Western Electric 300B, then I will use it with LM 508.

Replica of Western Electric 300B made 20 years ago was only 70% as good as original Western Electric 300B
128x128shkong78
I am sure fancy sockets are available, but, I know builders who are particular about the sockets they like and the ones they like are vintage sockets.  The sockets can be tightened up, but they supposedly don't stand up to frequent re-tensioning.  Also, not everyone is up to doing socket replacement.  I know I would be less than thrilled to do that with my Audio Note Kageki because the sockets are on the circuit board.

I also don't like the fact that triodes like the 300B and 2a3 have four pins and no center key, so it actually is possible to jam them in the wrong way; the pins vary in size, but, that is really not enough to prevent an accident.  With all the great minds at Western Electric, why didn't they think of putting the pins in a different pattern, like a trapezoid, where incorrect insertion is impossible.
larryi, I just pulled one of my EML XLS 300B tubes a few minutes ago, and when I went to reinsert it, I had it turned 180 degrees out. It would NOT go in that way. These are ceramic sockets, so I'll have to disagree with that assertion, at least on my amp.

Regards,
Dan
I suspect you were not as determined to screw up as some of us are.  At a local shop that employs part-time high school students, one such employee managed to insert one of a "matched pair" of Western Electric 300B's the wrong way, the result being a no longer matched pair and almost ceaseless teasing of that employee (amusing because he is otherwise super bright and has gone on to designing and building quite a number of decent amps, linestages, headphone amps and DACs).   
The new reissue of the Western Electric tube has not been on the market long enough to establish its quality and reliability.  The good news is that the company not only bought the trademark for Western Electric, they also bought the tube making gear and already built parts, so if we are lucky, their tubes will be like the 1990's reissued tubes.  I thought those reissued tubes were quite good-decent sounding and very reliable (only quality control issue I knew of was that some glass envelops became unglued from the tube base (relatively easy to fix if wires remained intact). 

It would also be nice if they got around to reissuing other WE tube types. How about new 310, 348, 349 and 350 tubes?