6DJ8 vs. 6922?


Alright tube aficionados, are 6DJ8 and 6922 tubes inter-changeable? I would ask Roger Modjeski or Tim de Paravicini, but they're both dead.

Anyone care to name their favorites of each tube, for use in phono and/or line stage pre-amps?

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They are interchangeable. The 6922 is the commercial-grade version, a step above the consumer-grade 6DJ8. In practice, it’s been a half-century since the phone company, avionics, or the military used these tubes, and they were replaced by FETs in TV’s by 1970. So they all go into non-critical consumer applications now.

They were never designed for audio use, so distortion and gain can be unpredictable. Testing is always a good idea to make sure they are suitable for audio use.

Quick definitions: consumer grade means it’s no big deal if it is out of spec or fails in use. It just annoys the consumer, nothing more. They go and buy another at the TV repair shop.

Commercial grade means telephone or broadcast use, where out of spec or failure in the field means loss of signal, and substantial financial loss. Think of "I Love Lucy" going off the air in Los Angeles. Like that.

MILSPEC means combat-ready, or aerospace use, where failure means loss of airframe, combat ineffectiveness, or loss of life. That is why MILSPEC costs at least 10x or 20x as much as consumer grade.

I rolled these in a Steelhead and preferred the sound of old Telefunkens to the Siemens b/c they were more 3d though the Siemens were probably more linear. It may depend on the circuit and the overall voicing of the system. At the time I was buying them they weren't hard to find as true NOS. Today, have no idea.

I went through bags of 'em in my old ARC SP10mk ii mainly b/c the phono section was extremely microphonic. I could never get that preamp to play quietly although it was a jewel in their line at the time and went back and forth to ARC many times for factory mods. 

I like GE and Sylvania. All these tubes are interchangeable!

The 6DJ8 is a dual triode preamp tube. ECC88 is the European designation for this tube. 6922 and its European equivalent E88CC are premium versions of the 6DJ8. 7308 and E188CC and the CCa are super premium versions.

Mazda 6922's are also really nice sounding tubes top to bottom. Use them in my Modwright Elysee DAC