Was at a friends house over the weekend. He changed output tubes in his integrated tube amps from the older version PSVANE MKII 6SN7 / CV181 style tube to the newer and lower cost "Horizon" series. They are more neutral, more detailed, and not the same smoothed over midrange bloom from the older style MKIIs with the grayed out bottles; both are nice in different ways, so it depends on what type of sound you are looking for. Its good to have options.
PSVANE Mfg Co replaced my older 6SN7 CV-181 TII tubes
Sharing - in case this might help others. This came out of the blue unexpectedly.
Over the holidays I had written PSVANE Co Mfg asking why my older TJ Full Music 6SN7s simply sounded better than my 3yr old PSVANE CV-181 TII tubes I only used 1yr. These TIIs had a mfg date of Oct 2021. Used them some, they got dull. Had been just sitting there in a fancy box and I happened to mention it vaguely over one email that was more about the new line of tubes and wondering about change overall with the new series of tubes. I was not there for any other reason.
Also confirmed that PSVANE did in fact buy tooling and some of the smaller tubes business from TJFM after the father passed on. Another reason I was comparing.
---
I was #1 asking if any of the TJFM tooling and offerings had made its way into the new lines of PSVANE had been offering in 2024, including ArtSeries, Horizon lines.
#2 reason was to get an idea of what may have changed since coming out of the pandemic and/if there were updates on the overall design, quality, testing, QA for any of the 6SN7 CV-181 types of tubes, PSVANE, other lines.
---
Long story, I get this reply back a day or so later from someone there [not identifying a name, just an email distro list] asking me to send photos of the tubes, test tags, boxes etc. Back and forth a few times over email with good English and extra help coming in - nice, interesting.
I had also recalled recently seeing psvane tubes showing up here as.a member on Agon and that time was short lived before being removed by Agon admins or someone. It was clear to me they were trying to assess their position, customers, and any feedback they could get here on Audiogon. So, I gave it directly over email. Honestly,still hung up on why my older TJFM tubes sounded better :)
---
RESPONSE:
PSVANE immediately came back and told me there were known "quality assurance issues" during that Oct 2021 period and they "would happily replace the tubes with new ones", shipped to me "free of charge", direct from the factory. Also expressing how those matters have since been resolved and did not want unhappy customers.
I agreed to their policy to physically "break my tubes, smash the glass, photograph them, send them photos". This is so bad tubes don’t end up back on the market being resold and causing further complaints no longer the case with new versions.
---
Tubes arrived in 17 days after they agreed to pack well and ship. They are the same TIIs with a different looking "T Series" label on the box outside for T-Series.
From the outside, same shape, size, same gray coating, bigger than my TJ Full Music as before. These 2025 tubes look close to the 2021 version outside.
---
SOUND, out of the box:
First test they were a little veiled over for the first 1-20 minutes. At hours 1-4 increasingly opening up, texture and sound stage all coming in at once - with definite separation, not blurred together at all. Pretty neat actually.
6SN7 tube preamp, 50w Class A solid state amp for the first try. Tube amps later.
Track:"In my secret life" by Leonard Cohen
Hearing his voice direct at the center, and female singers coming out of Right & Left channel at the speakers from both sides - all at the same time but with real separation. Some of my other 6SN7s can co-mingle the sound just a little bit.
---
Changes:
- Nicer tone
- New texture
- More open, perfect speaker to speaker side to side sound stage
- A bit more separation of everything, all singers and instruments
- A bit more layering now (and this is my SS amp, not my tube amps)
- Other tracks, Nils or Stevie Ray, Guitars sound more authentic
Why Share:
I replied to the person of authority there who replaced these tubes for me that I’d make a post of exactly what resulted and that I’d tell it straight as I hear it good or bad starting out. Maybe some updates later over time as tbd.
-----
Next:
I’ll leave these full replacements in my preamp for at least 90 days or unless something changes.
-----
Summary:
Glad I gave these newer 2025 PSVANE a 2nd chance vs buying others like the Horizon or just staying with my older TJFM still lasting well, gonna store those.
We’ll see how this goes and if they last. Hope to keep them in play, they sound very nice right now. 
Not sure if this helps anyone or not but some times it might be worth giving things a 2nd try maybe, and particularly so when the MFG wants to help make good on it.
Enjoying what Im hearing right now. It’s causing me to keep my SS amp in play for longer too, no joke the guitar tone, texture, and spatial sound is extra nice now fwiw. .
- ...
- 30 posts total
@decooney since you brought this thread back to life I thought I’d also update a couple of my previous comments. Regarding PSVANE and my Summit 6sn7’s unfortunately they continue to die a premature death. To date I have 2 tubes left from 3 different pairs that have not gone bad. Similar results with Linlai Global Elite 6sn7’s. Recently I finally broke down and purchased some Ray’s Reserve EL34’s for a Single Ended amp I have. All I can say is wow. They sound as good as some vintage Amperex I’ve stashed. Knock on wood they hold up and if they do I’m going to bite the bullet and try their Reserve 6sn7’s. |
Hey @marco1 - did you buy the prior failing tubes from a US dealer/distributor or directly from overseas, if you can share more? (a reason I ask). Worth Checking This - While I'm a broken record about this ONE THING, there are findings of a pattern when some (not all) of the US distributors / dealers remove the tubes from a very well packed large box of tubes that arrive fine, no issues. Then, they pull them, re-pack and ship them themselves, in much less protective packing, tubes have less cotton packing [in/around] or not packed extra safe in the boxes like they were in the former/larger/safe original boxes. Unfortunately, too many hands in the mix in this scenario. TJ Full Music figured this out a while back after 2 years of tracing. Now the tubes I've ordered shipped direct from overseas, are left as-is in the original containers/boxes/packing - seem to last. You'll know comparing the former tubes to the Ray Tubes. Note: some of these originally made by the exact same OEM manufacturers with different labels/testing on them, and then comparing packing used and how they arrive. Knock on wood, many of the well packed ones or special boxes they came in all seem to be lasting for me, fwiw. Ask: Did you happen to notice if group-A that fails prematurely vs. group-B that seems to last is packed and shipped differently - in any way [comparing both sets, do you recall how they arrived to you, and from who?] cc: @psvaneaudio @psvane @psvaneofficial
|
@decooney you probably don’t remember but we’ve discussed packaging in the past. I don’t believe packaging was an issue with any of these tubes or shipments though. The PSVANE tubes were purchased directly from them and shipped directly from China. Their Summit tubes are always well packaged in their own custom padded boxes and then placed in larger well padded boxes. Linlai tubes were purchased from a large US distributor and packaged in individual tube boxes which were also placed in larger well padded boxes. Of course handling the tubes prior to or during boxing could have had an effect, but you would hope a manufacturer or large distributor is accustomed to how to handle and box tubes. Could I just be unlucky, sure. But considering the failure rate that I’ve experienced, I think it’s more a problem with their manufacturing and testing. I’m not a tube newbie and I’ve never had problems with tubes to this magnitude before. Even vintage tubes. I also corresponded with PSVANE several times about the failure rate so they are aware of my problems. I would also mention that they were always very receptive to my concerns and tried to reassure me it was an “one off” problem. Unfortunately for me however, it was not. It’s also unfortunate because both the PSVANE Summit and Linlai Global Elite tubes sound excellent. After a year or two I may give them a try again. Who knows. But for now I’m keeping my fingers crossed with the Ray’s. |
Thanks for the update @marco1 - excellent details and notes shared for @psvaneaudio @psvane @psvaneofficial and members to study and follow up on. Best of Luck on the Ray Tubes as well and happy listening.
|
- 30 posts total