Funny you should ask as I swapped out my 12AU7’s two days ago in my line stage pre. It got to the point I was hearing an intermittent hiss at my listening position. I switched the mute on and off over the last few months and it would stop but began to return more frequently and is now constant. The offending tube is of a matched pair of Tekefunken G-73 R’s that I absolutely love. I replaced them with a pair of standard nos Telefunken’s and problem solved. Except they don’t SOUND as good as the noisy pair, sound familiar? My solution is that I have about a dozen pairs of various sets of nos 12AU7’s to play with. Fortunately for me I acquired them about 10 years ago before dynamic pricing was involved. NOS tube rolling can become addictive so be carful. A couple of random thoughts are that I run high efficiency speakers and tube noise is more apparent. I prefer nos tubes over new production tubes but they are expensive and although called NEW have usually seen a few owners so no telling until they’re tested and tried. Also I don’t agree that new gear is voiced to a specific 12AU7 if it ships with JJ’s. They are inexpensive, available, inexpensive, reliable , inexpensive, dependable, and inexpensive. 😆 Occasionally someone actually likes them , unfortunately that wasn’t my experience. However I did find the new production Tung Sol 5751 gold pin very nice , but unfortunately it’s a low mu 12AX7. Try a few pairs of different tubes and see what you like. The three directions for nos are Tekefunken, Mullard , and RCA. That’s a generalization but fairly accurate. FWIT if you go to the Brent Jesse site and read the sound description page for 12AU7’s it’s very accurate. Happy Hunting and I’ll look for you at the Tube Addicts Anonymous meeting. Cheers , Mike B.
Tube Question - Significance of Tube Noise at Listening Position
Hello all. I need some advice on tubes. I use a BHK preamp that has a tube input stage (12AU7). I recently replaced the PSvane tubes that came with it with some GoldLion gold pins. The sound is much better, more holographic, warmer. However, after 6 months, I started to get tube noise with my ear near the speaker. I put back in the PSvane tubes and the noise was reduced in half so it is the tubes, but with the old tubes, the sound quality of course dropped.
I am thinking about buying some new tubes, either Ray Select tubes, which are considered to be very low noise, or NOS Brimars.
My question is: does the tube noise matter at the listening position if it can't be heard where I sit? Although I don't think I can hear the noise at my listening position, I am still bothered by it because, well, its there. We work so hard to get black backgrounds and I would never use a cable, power cord, streamer or conditioner, that adds hiss. We would never accept that, so even if I don't hear it at the listening position, I just feel like it must have some detrimental effect and why should we accept that from a tube if I won't accept it from any other component?
I am looking for advice on this topic and if I should get the Ray Select tubes to hopefully remove the noise, or go with the good sounding GoldLions even though I know they are adding noise/hiss/garbage to the sound near the speaker.
Finally, anyone have any comments on the Ray Select 12AU7. I don't want bright or hard, and the competition is the GoldLion gold pins.
Thanks everyone.
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I've been doing some tube rolling in my Cronus Magnum III. Like the OP I found a bit of tube noise when I rolled a Mullard 12AU7 that I acquired in a lot of tubes from an estate auction into the Gain Stage socket. The tube tested strong but introduced some tube noise into the system. However, the sound is so much richer and holographic that it exceeds the NOS Brimar that was previously installed. I kept it. The resulting sound is much more to my liking. Tube noise, yes (but I can't hear it from my chair), but it is a small price to pay. If you have a tube tester, keep an eye out for audiophile estate auctions. You may have to drive a few hours to pick things up (or pay for shipping), but the hunt can be as much fun. I currently have 19 12AU7s and 7 12AX7s. Plenty of variety if I want to change up the sound. Also, plenty of backups.
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@inna You can message on the Agon side. |
- 27 posts total