Didn't you find that those things, uh, dampened the sound?
Does it make sense to use 6k$ Nos tube with 5K$ tube amplifier?
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=VjN1SHRiUWYxUGd0dk5qWTVQOEJNNXdMaEZ0RGZB
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.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51X0iE0RA7L.jpg
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$.
Psavne Acme 805 is the best new production tube with natural details and transparent soundstage.
I do not expect Acme 300B to be better than original Western Electric 300B.
But if Acme 300B is 90% as good as original Western Electric 300B, then I will use it with LM 508.
Replica of Western Electric 300B made 20 years ago was only 70% as good as original Western Electric 300B
Yesterday I inserted original Western Electric 300B made in 1930’s to Line Magnetic 508 amplifier.
After I got LM 508 on Aug 2018 and I had done lot of tube rolling.
Now I have Psavne Acme 805, 1944 Sylvania vt231(6SN7), Mullard ECC85(6SL7) and Synergistic Blue power cable and fuse with it.
Isoacoustics Orea Bordeaux foot is also under LM 508.
I had been hesitant to try my original Western Electric 300B with LM 508 amplifier.
After paying 3k$ 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.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51X0iE0RA7L.jpg
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
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- 54 posts total
shkong78, Any particular WE horn system? A local dealer has assembled systems with 12, 13, 15, 22 horns and various compression drivers, like the WE-555 (field coil and permanent magnet versions), and he has a gigantic 16A horn (not for sale) which utilizes two 555 drivers per speaker (one version of this horn utilizes four 555's per speaker, but, I've never seen or heard this version). He also utilizes G.I.P. replica field coil compression drivers and their replica field coil woofers and 597 tweeter. All of this is great sounding stuff. I also like much more modestly sized systems utilizing vintage and replica drivers and horns. My favorite compression driver is the Western Electric 713b which has a phenolic diaphragm. It is, to me, the most natural sounding, detailed, yet smooth sounding driver. But, it does not have as extended a frequency range as other Western Electric drivers and it is harder to get the crossover right because it is a 4 ohm driver. It works well in smaller systems that are not called upon to deliver extremely high volume levels. Some of the Western Electric field coil woofers sound very good, but, for my personal "dream" system, I might go with the Jensen/ERPI M-10 field coil woofer. My ideal tweeter is the 597. My dealer has actually assembled two systems using G.I.P.'s jazzed up version of the 597 tweeter that sells for $58,000 a pair; I would settle for the "cheaper" replica or an original WE 597. For the power supply for field coils, I was surprised to hear how much better a Tungar tube power supply sounds as compared to solid state power supplies for the midrange compression drivers. My dealer says that the difference is smaller for tweeter and woofer power supplies. Of course, amplification should be Western Electric or something comparable. I am happy with my sort of replica 133a amp (re-built, mostly vintage parts, including the correct Western Electric input and output transformers). |
@larryi Thanks a lot for your kind recommendation. But I can not pull the trigger right now. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMtNSB4H5MbCvLRW_yUOEOl3WRBxcf--Jdo_iBJFwEeTH1i-rg4WsWWn5tp03-W... This is the system that I had heard at Seoul, Korea last December. I was astonished by natural dynamics. But I can not shell out 300$ now. I will not settle for less than the above one. My current system with Lansche 4.1 driven by Line Magnetic 508 or Silbatone 300B SET is musical enough to beat most of system that I had heard at many Audio shows. Thus I am not in a hurry. When I am comfortable at spending 300K$, then I will pull the trigger. Thomas |
- 54 posts total