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Tubes

I have recently come upon a tube amp a yaqin mc 13-s. I have been reading up a bit on tubes and different things to get better sound. I have asked some questions about speakers on here and received great feedback and its all very much appreciated, you guys who gave me your best input thank you. 

I paired my yaqin with a pro-ject tube box s2. Prior to purchasing the pro-ject preamp I came across a shiit lyr 2 and used it for a short period, unfortunately I'm not into headphones and it didn't pair well in my system the volume just want there because it's not really a preamp it's a headphone amp. Long story short it had ecc88 orange globe amperex tubes and that thing sounded smooooootthhh. 

So I have a few questions?
1. Should I change all the tubes in my main amp to matching tubes? It uses qty 4 (6ca7's or el34b's), qty 2 (12ax7's) and qty 2 (12au7's) for example if I were to use tungsol 12au7's should I use tungsol for the 12ax7's and 6ca7's or could I use gold lions for the 6ca7's? Does it really matter?

2. How big of a difference does it really make changing preamp tubes? like I said earlier the schiit really sounded great and I could only attribute it to those tubes but correct me if I'm wrong? I didn't have any other tubes to try.

Thoughts and opinions are all welcome and appreciated. Once again thank you all for the advice.
gguy767
bsmg
296 posts
 
12 tubes total in my system; about $2100 in the lot. All of them are at least forty years old and have been in operation in their current service since 2012; replaced one EL34 in that time and it was over fifty years old. 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,219 posts
 
gguy767,
I find it surprising and interesting that your Yaqin is a pure class A bias circuit as opposed to the more common class AB (particularly in this price range). If this amplifier is well designed and built it should provide very good sound quality. I understand your strong preference for tube amplifoption. There are unquestionably excellent solid state amplifiers yet good quality tube equipment just consistently seems to be more natural and emotionally involving, So I get where you are coming from.

Good advice you’ve been given from zkidd in regard to NOS tubes. They can be quite exceptional but not all of them are and it is certainly circumstances specific. There are without doubt very good sounding and high quality current production tubes available. NOS tubes are "always" superior to current production tubes is not true. Many variables to factor in.
I believe that you will do fine in your tube endeavors and derive much music listening enjoyment. . IMHO there's  an unmistakable realism that can be heard/felt  with good tube components in the audio signal chain.
Charles
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,532 posts
 
The people telling you that vintage tubes are a ripoff and that new production tubes are always better are as wrong as the people saying that vintage tubes are always better.

It all depends on your tastes and your system.  There's no one size fits all.  Vintage tubes can provide a little tube magic in the right system. 

You are probably better off starting with new production tubes until you gain a little knowledge about tubes and where to get them.  When you become more familiar with tubes and what you want from them you can venture into vintage tubes.  They can make an important difference in your system.

Maybe zkidd can loan you some of his 800 NOS tubes that he doesn't like or use so that you can learn about them without getting ripped off.  

jrwaudio
331 posts
 
 @roberjerman 

I bought my VAC PA 80 80 new in 1994, so would that make it vintage? If so does that also make me vintage?? :  )  it still has the original KT88's and 12AU7A/E82CC Golden Dragons and are working fine so far. Not sure what I would use when it's time to replace them. Same goes for my ARC LS15 preamplifier I've heard PSvane make good tubes
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Pre-amp tubes like 12au7 and 12ax7 can last 5000-10,000 hours.  You can get different sound from different brands or even models with a brand.  Orange Globe Amperex are very nice and expensive to replace.  Keep them.  You can pick up others if you want to compare.  Also, the 12 series tubes really should be used in "like" pairs since they are running right and left channels.
The output tubes can be expensive if you want 4 matched tubes.  You really should try to have 4 of the same output tubes that are electronically similar as well as same brand.
Like everything else-start reading and looking.  Good tube retailers are tubesandmore.com and thetubestore.  Tube world is pricey but will teach you a lot.  Personally I would say stay away from ebay.  Likewise, buying from craigslist can be a deal but without a tube tester you don't know what you are getting.

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