This may come as somewhat of a shock, but tubes(like anything else) are worth whatever people will pay for them. If you want the best, you have to be willing to pay for it. NOTHING that is manufactured now can compare to the musicality of the select Siemens and Telefunken tubes. They last an average of 10,000 hrs, and that much musical enjoyment is hard for me to place a valuation on. I'm also using a pair of NOS TungSol round plate 6SN7GT's and a pair of NOS Sylvania 6SN7W tall boys(all from the 40's), in my Cary monoblocks. Check the prices on those if you think CCa's are expensive. People aren't going to stop buying them, because when those that are available now are gone- there won't be any more. I will admit the people that sell them on AudiogoN are awfully proud of them. I buy most of mine(the Siemens anyway) from Germany.
Tube Rolling In Audio Research Phono Preamp
I have an Audio Research PH3SE phono preamp that currently has three Sovtek 6922's. Audio Research told me not to bother doing any tube rolling because it will change the "voice" and tone of the preamp. However, I keep reading wonderful things about vintage tubes improving the quality of sound in all kinds of gear. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with different tubes in their phono preamp and which ones they liked the most. Thanks!
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Rodman, It has not come as a shock to me at all. The fact that scare tactics have always been used as a means of getting people to pay more for something than its worth!! "When these are gone they'll not be anymore" Yeah right. There'll always be something to replace what's supposely not available anymore, that's what capitalism is all about. We're paying $3.69 a gal. for gas right now because of a so call shortage of oil, when there's enough oil in our reserves to last for the next 75 to 100 yrs. All the gov. has to do is let some of that reserve oil out for 30 days and the price of gas goes down immmediately. Keep believing there's no more tubes available and like gas the price will keep going up! |
The Amperex white label PQs should be a great way to learn what is possible beyond the stock tubes. I've run a variety of Amperex, Telefunkens, Siemens 6DJ8s and 7308s in the ARC PH7 with results easily better than stock. The trick will to use tubes that are quiet. Before purchasing pricey NOS tubes, get some assurance from the seller that they've been tested for noise. In a vinyl system the majority of all signal amplification happens in the phono stage and you'll learn pretty quickly if its tubes are microphonic or otherwise noisy. To an extent all tubes are noisy. This can be diminished (more or less based on the tube's condition) by using some sort of dampening. I don't know if the PH3 came with tube damping O-rings but ARC includes them with the PH7. And better than those are the ones from Herbies Audio Labs (no affiliation, happy customer). Best of luck with your tube rolling! Tim |
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