ARC Ref 3: Tung-Sol 6550 in power supply?

What can I say Rodman. . . I have listened and done live unamplified, acoustic music for almost 50 years and still have no idea what many are talking about when the whole issue of the realism of tube bloom arises. . . I'll try to listen to live music for a few more decades and hope to learn. . . Like Bart aptly suggests, there are a lot of audiophile with longer listening experience than I do. G.

That's what I inferred from your second post(describing what you were hearing). My own experience with the sound of live(and my love for it) has only been about 35 years as a musician/sound tech/electronics repairman and modder. Seems much of the "audiophile" thing is wrapped around the sound of equipment compared to the sound of other pieces of equipment. I remember one post in which the "audiophile" sited how many CES shows he'd attended, and pieces of gear he's listened to, in his "experience." The resistance to the idea that live music CAN be used as a reference is dismaying, but I suppose it's human nature to deny that from which you've alienated yourself. It's interesting that so many find it impossible not to argue their viewpoints with such vehemence. Perhaps they believe if they continually repeat the same error, loudly enough, it will become truth? Then again: "ain't" and "irregardless" ARE now in the dictionary(another example of our codependent society)! My take: Whatever makes them happy in their listening rooms IS right for them, and fine with me. Enjoy your music Mr G!!

Great advice Guido. Given your deep knowledge of music and all the famous musicians that you know, your ability to pick chips must be peerless. Thanks for taking time out of you busy schedule of listening to live music to address my concerns.

Dave

Able to contribute to the discussion around the subject. I retubed my Ref. 3. It is now about 10 hrs...Not enough but some conclusion can be shared already. I probably already mentioned to the readers that my tubes had 2800 hrs of use and I did not have any feeling that it was time to change. But following the thread I decided to do it anyway and try the Tung Sol as rectifier. I can now be sure that the ARC sounded still exactely like new. Changing all 6H30 tubes infact did not change much the sound excepted for the initial time needed to run-in them. So I guess the signal tubes can easily be used up to the 4000 hrs mentioned by Audio Research and probably exceed this limit. The other thing I can say is that the 6550 type contributes a lot to the sound characteristics. Much more than I expected. The Tung Sol makes the REf 3 more similar to the Ref 2. More on the warm side. I tend to agree with Guido. I prefer the more open and lifelike sound with the original 6550C. The sound was more aggressive and sometimes more tiring. With the Tungsol is more (I would say much more) Tube sounding. I sense the tungsol makes the internal voltage lower. I do not have the schematics to measure this, but i say that because the display looks less bright. This would explain partially what I'm hearing,...More relaxed sound, but with bass that is not tight as before and treble less defined...As if the bias of the tubes was changed. Again 10 hrs is not enough. I will come back when the tubes will reach the 100 hrs. For now I would recomend to use the original 6550C.

Marco_esposito - what TungSol 6550 tube did you try ?

NOS Black Plate/Gray Plate from the 50s-60s or the new production TungSol "reissue" ?

I'm asking this question since those are two very different tubes.