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Shuguang Treasure tubes....

I'm not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes....Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled "FRAGILE: GLASS!" was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever....or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!...right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they're this good right out of the box I can't wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I'm no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I'm one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the "CV-181", this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7's and I'm very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
johngp
rrsclyde
83 posts
 
I'm currently running 4 of the Treasure 6CA7's in my Cary SLI-80 and my experience is similar to above. I'm liking the Treasures so much I'm considering selling my carefully hoarded NOS Amp/Mullard xf2 and Tesla brown base el34's. I'm not ready to say I like the Treasures better than my quad of Tung Sol smooth blackplate 6550's in my amp, but they are darn close, and the best part is hopefully they will keep producing them!

I've also fairly recently put a pair of the Treasure cv-181's in the 6sn7 driver location of my amp---again, to my ears these are comparing very favorably with my NOS 6sn7's (such as TS roundplates, Brimars and Ken Rad VT-231's). I was skeptical at the 'premium' price of the Treasure series tubes, but in my experience their performance has been first rate, as has been my dealing with Ian and Rachel at Grant Fidelity.
jcspinks
17 posts
 
Rrsclyde, did your 6ca7s need lots of break-in such as mine or more like Bannister's KT-88s much lower time? My tubes' bass improved markedly relatively quickly, but the mids were not full or treble refined til much later, only getting close after 225 hours. Even then the bass was not exacting as it is now. The last 75 or so hours is what moved them into magnificence.
sherod
1,690 posts
 
It's kind of sad that this new Treasure KT88 tube needs 300 hours to fully break in when the overall life of the tube is @5000 hours. I guess it's worth it if they sound that remarkable.
jcspinks
17 posts
 
I guess you just have to think of it as a 6% tax! That leaves 94% of its life, for blissful listening which does make the story sound better. Also, although it takes a lot of patience, listening to the changes IS entertaining! I don't regret it for a second with my 6ca7s.
honest1
586 posts
 
What i don't understand is why Grant Fidelity doesn't break the tubes in. How can they choose the top % of tubes if they change so much after they run for 300 hours. It wouldn't take much for a manufacturer / distributor to set up a rig where they could plug 50 tubes in and let them cook for a couple weeks. It wouldn't be too labor intensive. This comment really applies across the whole industry - if you have to run your system for 300 - 800 hours every time you buy a new piece of gear, your system won't lasst very long. I have heard some say that itis really our ears that are really breaking in; I dont know if this is true.
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