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| Model: | WE845 |
| Category: | Tubes |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $719 |
| Description: | . |
| Manufacturer URL: | PSVANE |
| Model Picture: | View |
| Review by thetubeguy1954 on March 13, 2014 at 12:21:49 IP Address: 184.88.53.20 | Add Your Review for the WE845 |
On 1/20/14 I received WE845 tubes from Grant Fidelity to use in my Mastersound Reference 845. My birthday was a couple of days later so I was able to convince my wife to allow me to splurge and purchase the quad of WE845 tubes. However I was a tad concerned because Western Electric never made an 845 tube and I wasn’t about to drop-in a quad of possibly “pseudo 845 tubes” which might possibly damage my $12.5K, 135lb, world-class, Mastersound Reference 845 SET amp! So I got in touch with Rachel at Grant Fidelity. She was quite pleasant and took the time to answer all my questions. I asked Rachel how Grant Fidelity could be selling replicas of a Western Electric 845 tube that never existed. She explained these WE845 tubes were voiced to sound like the Western Electric 284A tube, but were built to RCA 845 specifications. Doing that made them a direct drop-in replacement tube for any amp that uses 845 tubes. Feeling reassured these WE845 tubes were safe to use in my amp I ordered a quad of them. .
When the tubes arrived I immediately replaced my 845-B tubes with the WE845 tubes. Then I turned on my audio system and allowed the WE845 tubes to start breaking-in by playing background music. In the meantime I sat at my laptop two rooms away in the dining room surfing the internet and managing SETriodes, my online audio forum. The first CD I put on played louder than I expected it to, so I got up to turn the volume down. I usually keep the amp’s volume set at the 10 o’clock position when I’m listening to background music playing two rooms away. So imagine my surprise when I discovered the volume was still set in the 10 o’clock position!
These WE845 tubes have some serious grunt to them and that was a very pleasant surprise to discover. In addition to playing louder, the dynamics seemed greater than they had been before as well. This was just the first day with less than one hour on these tubes and I’m already noticing a couple of nice improvements, but by the end of the first day it wasn’t all good news. The treble was noticeably bright and that issue was exasperated by a midrange presentation wasn’t as warm, full-bodied or emotionally engaging as it had been with the 845-B tubes I had previously been using. Still it was only the first day. So I wasn’t about to judge the performance of these tubes after only 6 hours of usage, Especially since Rachel said to give them about 100 hours to completely beak-in before judging them sonically..
I’m not going to bore everyone with a description of the slow day-by-day of the slight sonic improvements I noticed as the background music played Instead I’m going to jump ahead a full 5 days. I had allowed music to play for anywhere from 8 to 12 hours every day since I received the tubes. By the time the fifth day arrived I had 50+ hours on these tubes. I was trying my best to follow Rachel’s advice and allow these WE845 tubes 100 hours to completely break-in. But I just couldn’t do it. As much as I tried to, I just couldn’t do it. As the days passed my attention was constantly being seduced by the most beautiful music I had ever heard in my home.
Every moment that passed was becoming increasingly more and more difficult for me not to surrender to this sweet seduction. I wanted to, no, I had to go to the audio room, sit in the sweet spot, shut my eyes and allow the music to immerse me in the beautiful sounds that were continually beckoning me to leave my laptop like sirens calling out to sailors on the high seas. On the sixth day I finally gave in. I decided to go listen to what these WE845 tubes could really do.
For this review I played a lot of music covering different genres from smooth jazz and classical to progressive rock and folk. I’m not going to cover listening to the different CDs separately. Rather I’ll provide a synopsis of what I heard over a six week period of time. I remember the very first time I decided to listen to these WE845 tubes critically. I sat in the sweet spot on my couch, hit play on the remote and closed my eyes. To say I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to hear would be a gross understatement. As the music played it emanated from the deep, black of silence. I heard an effortless, re-creation of a palpable, wide, deep soundstage that ran from about 3 to 4 feet in front of my speakers to the further back than the wall behind them.
This soundstage was so wide it out about 4 to 5 feet to the sides of both speakers in my audio room. In fact, the right side of my right speaker is where the outside wall of my house is located. The soundstage was so wide, at times it sounded as if I’d hear sounds emanate from beyond this wall! There were layers upon layers of well-defined information with spatial clues that provided a foundation for Instruments and singers to unmistakably appear in a reach-out-and-touch-them way. It was the palpability of this wide, deep, 3-D soundstage plus the spot-on imaging that consistently put musicians in the right spots. This is the kind of holographic imaging and precision sound-staging I’ve been searching for as an audiophile & music lover since the very beginning.
Added to that was an incredible truth of timbre, beautiful tone & harmonics. Their lightning fast transients and explosive dynamics, their clarity, transparency and wonderful inner-detail, and that makes these WE845 tubes the true contender for being King of the 845 tubes. Oh and I have to comment on their outstanding decay of notes, that went on and on until at least there was nothing left but the blackness of silence.
The more music I played the more I realized these WE845 tubes have a way of making the music come alive in a way I’ve never heard any other 845 tube do before them. No matter what instrument played or which singer sang the WE845’s pitch, harmonics, timbre and tone was spot-on! I remember when a sax would play I’d think --This is what a live saxophone really sounds like-- but I thought that same exact thing when a piano, guitar, cello or any other instrument played. I kept thinking THAT’S how a piano, guitar, cello etc., really sounds! I’m not going to lie. I love 845 tubes they’re my favorite triode tube, but in my 13+ years of using an 845-based SET amp I never heard any 845 tube display this level of musical truth and emotional engagement.
They have the best treble extension and sonic qualities of any 845 tube I’ve ever heard -- for a short period of time I even had a quad of NOS, RCA 845s in my amp and to the best of my recollection these WE845 are their equal if not even better-- The highs are wonderfully extended, always sounding sweet and crystal clear. Yet they never came across as being bright or etched in anyway. In my notes I wrote --This is precisely the type of treble sound I want in my system. Come down into that all too critical midrange spectrum and you’ll hear that midrange magic that triode tubes are so famous for. Except in the case of these WE845s the midrange sounds like the beautiful midrange of Western Electric 300B’s, than 845s! The mids are nicely detailed, warm and full bodied, smooth, liquid and so darn emotionally engaging,--even now I cannot get away from how musically engaging these WE845 tubes are-- I found myself unable to listen to just a favorite track on a recording. I HAD to listen to the entire CD and I was eagerly looking for another CD to play as soon as it was done! This is some of the very best midrange I’d ever heard from any amp, tubed, hybrid or solid-state. This is the best bass I ever heard from any triode tube. It was deep, powerful, taunt, well delineated and tonally stunning to listen to.
Conclusion
These WE845 tubes are truly exceptional in every way! They have the capability to convince you you’re actually listening to live, unamplified acoustic instruments and singers rather than a reproduction of them. If your audio system is up to the task and doesn’t hold these WE845 tubes back, they’ll conjure up an astonishing, almost magical sense of live music from virtually every recording you’ll play. I’m not claiming they’ll make a poorly recorded CD sound like a well-recorded one, but they will do is make it sound better than it ever did before. I’m also not claiming they’ll make a studio session sound like a live performance. If it’s a studio recording they’ll make you believe you were in the studio while the music was being recorded and with a live recording the WE845s will transport you to venue where the live recording was made. I believe the best way to judge an audio product is how easily it makes you forget you’re listening to a reproduction of music rather than to music itself. With the WE845 tubes that was very easy to do every time.. After 8+ weeks of critical listening I’m still impressed every time I play my system. I know these WE845 tubes aren’t perfect, but I’m at a loss to fault them. Over the entire frequency range and with every genre of music I played. There wasn’t one aspect of the sound where these WE845 tubes exhibited less than state-of-the-art realism. Their tone color, inner-detail, excellent macrodynamics & microdynamics, wonderful treble extension, warm, full-bodied midrange, bottom-end extension and bass pitch definition, —and the list goes on and on, were all impeccable. In the end perhaps the best thing I can say is this –I had a $4000, incredibly musical sounding, prototype tube preamp installed in my system to evaluate and as good as it was and it was very good—it didn’t make half the level of sonic improvement in my system as adding these WE845 tubes did! All hail the new King of triodes.
My Listening Environment
My dedicated audio room measures 15 ft 7 in L by 12 ft 7 in W. The speakers are located on the long wall and they’re separated a little over 8 ft. The ceiling is 8 ft H directly behind where the speakers are located and gently rises to 10 ft directly behind the listening position. The floor is covered with wall to wall carpeting and I have bamboo wallpaper on all the walls. Anyone who wishes to see my listening room or my audio gear can do so at this link: http://tinyurl.com/3sxnnus
| Product Weakness: | I'm sure there must be something but there was none that I could detect in my system. |
| Product Strengths: | To many to list. Please read my review. |
| Amplifier: | Mastersound Reference 845 |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | None |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Goldenote Stibbert Transport / Audio-gd Reference 7.1 DAC |
| Speakers: | Sachikos Double BLH w/ Dayton PS220-8 Drivers With Rispoli Cone Treatment Applied and Fostex T900a Super-tweeters |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Grover Huffman SRC –IIx ICs, Rispoli Loudspeaker Wires, Rispoli Reference 1 Digital Wire and Stealth Audio M-21 Super Power cords. |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Smooth jazz, Classical, Progressive rock and Folk music. |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 15 ft 7 in x 12 ft 7 in x 8 ft to 10 ft sloped ceiling |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | There's wall to wall carpeting, large soft chair, couch and foot stool and the wallpaper is made of bamboo. |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 months |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Home Audition |
Hello Thetubeguy1954
I've just received may pair of WE211 ! Now is time to compare against other premium tubes I've stocked like; GE, Taylor, Elrog ..
The first minutes on my system
Just a few historical corrections:
the 284 was WE's version of the 845. Like most early ones in that size, they were rated at 50-75W dissipation but later went to 100w, like the 845.
the 284A was a metal plate tube, as was at least some of the 284D production. the 284B (and some 284D) had graphite plates. One version of the B had a top-cap, I believe. I don't think there was a 284C. None had the pipped-top bulb, although that was present on the earliest versions of RCA's metal-plate UV-845. So, they are really going just on style for that piece of the design. From the looks of it, these psvane tubes are based on the later design WE 284D graphite plate tube, in terms of the structure and support.
I have at least 3 original NOS WE 284A and D tubes, but haven't used them so can't comment sound-wise, however they are basically the only metal-plate vintage 845 (along with the RCA UV-845).
Thanks for the review,
-Ed
just to make the comparison with some of your NOS supply! ;-)
Don't you have some NOS too? How did your project ever work out? Long time no talk but I recall you were working on an 845 amp at one point...
I wouldn't mind comparing the PSvanes at some point but probably won't throw down for a pair anytime soon. But they do look very attractive in the photos.
-Ed
Full sets of Tribute Iron, just about everything except the one thing I can't build at this point, the chassis.
Two, in fact, each capable of holding 100 lbs of parts! :-(
And now back is our tiny house in San Francisco so there is no place to do any work.
Best to follow the obits in the SF Newspapers because someone is gonna clean up when the 'widow Ivan303' cleans out the storage room!
Replied directly... ;-)
Thanx Thetubeguy1954,
I'll finnaly go for a pair of we211. My Elrogs ER-211 after burn-in period of 800 hours are now out of bias already dying and no guarranty after 6 months use !
Wow that's a crying shame after only 6 months. What did a pair of those Elrog 211 tubes cost you if you don't mind my asking?
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Well a pair of ER-211 in Europe was 2100 euros (2925 dollars)last year. Now I see the price has decreased a lot. a shame ..
thanks for the great review. i will be ordering a 'quad' very soon.the review greatly helped in my decision.
I'm glad I could help you. Just remember straight out of the box they were bright with a somewhat anemic sounding midrange. But after about 20 hours or so that should have changed significantly towards a nicely extended high-end that's delicate & sweet sounding with a warm, full-bodied, midrange that will literally give you the Goosebumps!
In fact, I had 3 friends visit from the Space Coast Audio society during the time I was reviewing the WE845 tubes. While we were all still outside just talking about the tubes, I began telling them about how I was ---{ and still am }---getting Goosebumps from listening to music these WE845 tubes in my system. And believe it or not, just describing what the experience of listening to the WE845 tubes was like, was sufficient enough to cause me to have Goosebumps on my arms & legs! These really are quite special and I believe and certainly hope, you'll be very happy with your purchase.
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Dear Tom and Calloway,
Are you still pleased with the sonics and reliability of the Psvane WE845's?
Very recently purchased an updated pair of ASL 1006 mk2 amps, and eagerly awaiting delivery -- my first foray into tube power amplification :^)
Also curious if any experience with the SuperTNT 845W metal plate (there's apparently an 845L model now, but can't find any reviews) or the Canada Fuller 845GX.
Thank you and best wishes for a healthy, harmonious 2015,
Harvey
At nearly $900 a pair, I would like to hear from a few inmates before I splurge.I can say that I recently heard the high end PSVANE KT-88s in a custom made PP amp during a rather involved tube rolling session that included any number of new production and NOS power tubes and the PSVANE won handily, even over NOS quads of both Tung Sol 6550 solid and 3 hole plate tubes. I know that a KT-88 is not the same as a 6550 but this particular self biasing amp plays both types without difficulty.
If these new production tubes also have long life to go along with good sonics, all the better.
Edits: 03/14/14
Have used the Psvane small signal tubes with great success. Bought a pair of the EL84-T series when they were still associated with Shuguang and they sound just awesome. Have a new pair of the 300B grey bottles and they are absolutely magnificent!
They're doing something right as well as continuously improving. I have had mixed results with the never ending quest for NOS of dubious nature. Mathematically, this pool must get smaller and smaller over time, and it has. It is real nice knowing that new tubes are being made to such a high caliber.
Kudos!
Which ones? They seem to have a number of differing models/price points.
I'm soon to be rebuilding my 300B mono blocks and it may be time to re-tube after 10+ years.
My 300Bs are the Psvane "T" Series Mark II
Hi Hardy!I'm delighted to hear that your Psvane 300B " grey bottles " tubes are providing you with such wonderful listening. As for myself, I'm ecstatic that these new Psvane " replica " tubes, while admittedly expensive, are actually out performing many of the highly regarded NOS uber-expensive tubes. So much excuses such as: " the art of tube building has died with the original tube manufacturers or " the materials used in the 30s-60's tubes was vastly superior to the materials that are being used in today's tubes " as being the reasons for why tubes being made today were, in many cases, so sonically inferior to the older NOS tubes.
IMHO the two main possible reasons why newly manufactured tubes performed so poorly in comparison to the older NOS tubes ---{ at least up until these last few years }--- was because; a) the Russian and Chinese militaries only required tubes that were reliable and performed well. Sound quality wasn't a concern for either of them. Hence it took some time for their tube manufactures to learn how to make tubes that also sounded good in addition to being reliable & performing well and b) I believe this is the main reason. They wanted to be able to raise the prices of these new " audiophile quality " tubes. Who knows, maybe they're actually doing something really different and more expensive in the process of making these tubes that are even surpassing the highly coveted NOS tubes?
But I really cannot think of what that might be. I believe it was all part of a deliberate plan ---{ step b up above }--- to charge prices that were considerably higher than the prices of the tubes they were previously making. However at the same time they had to be less than the price of the NOS tubes audiophiles dearly coveted. This led to an intentional, but actually unrequired delay, until enough time had passed and they could pretend to have suddenly " discovered " the means to manufacture tubes that equaled or surpassed the sonics of older NOS tubes! Thus in creating new tubes that audiophiles craved, while still expensive, were cheaper than the older NOS tubes they were out performing. So despite being more expensive ---{ giving the Chinese & Russian manufacturers what they want }--- they appeared to be a sonic bargain ---{ giving audiophile/music lovers what they want }--- and in the end made everyone essentially happy!
In the end this is truly all that matters, no? If we as audiophile/music lovers are happy with what we receive for the price we pay! I for one, find these $1430/quad WE845 to be expensive and a sonic bargain at the same time. I know of no $1438 wires, preamp, DAC etc. that could give me the level of sonic improvement these tubes did. I know a $4K tubed preamp didn't!
I'm listening to:
A Paul Simon Songbook by Bill Cunliffe & Friends
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Edits: 03/15/14
To be fair, some tubes manufactured in China, Eastern Europe and Russia over the last 10 or so years have been quite OK, even good to excellent.
However, some have been made to a price point and nothing more, especially the various and sundry 'Gold Lion' KT-88 clones made in China. That and microphonic DHT's from China and Russia were and still are quite a drag.
On the 300B front, to my ears the Full Music/TJ tubes were pretty good sounding as well as some of the Eastern European brands like EML (Emission Labs). The WE remakes made in USA about a decade ago worked well for me, as did the early KR's when they first came out.
I suppose I will write a big check soon for the higher priced 'WE' version of PSVANE 300B's. Here's hoping that last a long time, because at those prices once every 10 years is soon enough.
I am thinking about building either the AN integrated or trying the Bottlehead 300B amps, so I would love to know which ones you prefer, and why. TIA!
Right now my choice would be the Bottlehead Paramount 300B. Price wise it wins hands down. It sounds very good for the type of music I play and is well matched to the speakers.
The AN Legend 300B SEP monoblocks are very nice but one of them is sick and I have been having fits troubleshooting the problem. When it was in the line up, it was very impressive and its 17 Watts really added to it. Now, for Pink Floyd or movie soundtracks I fall back to the Bob Latino ST-70 which can hit around 33 Watts.
I am constantly swapping amps around and the AN beasties are heavy! The ST-70 is no slouch either. The Paramounts are the easiest.
Sound quality: I prefer SET amps most of all. I come back to the Paramount 300Bs and my newest favorite is the Bottlehead Stereomour 2A3 which is hooked up to Dave Dlugo's Frugal Horn with a full range Fostex FE126En speaker. Magic! This being said, buying a matched pair of triodes is a lot cheaper than quads...
Seeing from your Inmate Systems page that you have one or two amps that use the 300B. ;-)
I'm glad to hear how much you love these Psvane WE845 tubes. I am equally enamored with the Psvane 12ax7 in my vintage Pilot 402 receiver and the Psvane 12au7-T as drivers in my VAC Musicblocs. I have tried just about all vintage NOS and current versions and the Psvane have proven to be superior. I am hoping that their quality remains high and that they withstand the test of time.
Hi Sherod,
I really liked the 845-B tubes I was using before these Psvane WE845 tubes. To be completely honest with you I wasn't prepared for this level of an improvement over the 845-B tubes. At the $719/pr price they are presently selling for these WE845 tubes are definitely not inexpensive. However I paid $600/pr for the Bendix 6900 tubes that drive these WE845 tubes so I don't think they are that expensive either. I just wished my amp didn't use a quad of these tubes --ha ha ha.
In the end for what they do and for the level of sonic improvement they made. I think they could almost be considered a bargain. They reason I say that is this; I would have jumped on a preamp or pair of ICs that made this level of sonic improvement in my system. So why not do the same thing when that money goes for a quad of tubes?
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Yep, makes sense to me, Tom. When I bought my VAC Musiblocs, I contacted the owner of VAC < Kevin Hayes, and asked him if he had experimented with NOS or current driver tubes(factory stock were Jan Philips 6189W, 1980's vintage) and Kevin told me that the stock tubes he chose were for a good reason, other than they were readily available. In the meantime, I couldn't leave well enough alone and commenced to buying various(many) favorite NOS Amperex, Siemens, Mullard, etc. to replace the VAC stock tubes and none of them sounded as natural as the VAC stock tubes, so I finally gave up and lived for the next five years with the stock tubes. It wasn't until I read a glowing review on the Psvane 12au7-T Mk.II tubes on this forum by Audioquest4life, that I decided to buy a quad of the Psvane 12au7-T tubes and man was I in for a very pleasant, but jaw-dropping experience. Even without break-in, I could tell immediately that something was definitely better and within 100 hours of break-in, you couldn't tear me from my sweet spot of listening. ;o) Tom, I hope you have many hours of musical enjoyment with your new tubes.
Sherod,
Thanks for your well-wishes. I too hope these WE845 have a long life. The 845-Bs did so I'm rather confident these will as well. I really wished I knew you were originally looking for a good 12AU7 type of tube. When I originally purchased my Mastersound, some 13 years ago now, I also looked for the " ultimate " 12AU7 to use in it's preamp stage. Back then I went everywhere I could find, i.e., SETriodes group, Audio Asylum, Audio Roundtable, Audioholics and World Tube Audio forums and I asked for some suggestions on what others considered to be " the best " 12AU7. Well as might be expected the " Use Amperex, Mullard, Telefunken " chant started everywhere. Back then I was new to tube rolling so I believed what I was told. Thus I bought Amperex, Mullards & Telefunkens. However I was not quite satisfied with what I heard.
So I also bought Brimar, La Radiotechnique, Maroni, Mazda, Phillips, RFT, Siemens, Valvo, and just about every European 12AU7 I could find. I also tried the US tubes GE, JAN, RCA, Raytheon, Sylvania and Tung-Sol etc. But that wasn't all. I was so obsessed with finding " the best " 12AU7-type tube I tried every different tube types within the 12AU7 family I could find. This included the CV4003, CV491, 12AU7, 12AU7A, 12AU7WA, 5814, 5814A, 5963, 6067, 6189, 7730, ECC82, E82CC, ECC802S & M8136. I hope you're getting my drift here.
After spending more $$$$ than I care to remember and after much trial and a lot of errors, I found the two 12AU7 " types " I liked best. Did you notice the I LIKED BEST part? You see IMHO the number one " best " 12AU7 variant is the Mazda " silver-plate " 12AU7WA / E82CC / 6189 by a far margin and the number two 12AU7 variant is the RFT Foil-getter 12AU7 / ECC82. In the Mazda I found " the King " of 12AU7's bar none ---{ of course this was 13 years ago in the pre-Psvane days }--- But in the RFT I found all the salient traits of a Teley with much better midrange bloom and detail...the RFT smokes the Teleys IMHO!
But the most valuable lesson I learned however was this, EVERYTHING MATTERS , and there is no BEST 12AU7! The Mazda " silver-plate " 6189 sounded the best-bar none in my Mastersound, using my speakers, my transport, my DAC, my wires etc. No other 12AU7 even came close back then ---{ except the RFT "foil-getter" }--- However that same tube in your amp, with your CD Player, and speakers etc. might not have " the magic " at all. Our systems are a gestalt of all the different components involved. Unfortunately the only way to find what " the best " 12AU7 for you is through trial and error. Thankfully you found the Psvane 12AU7 tubes. After hearing how amazing these Psvane WE845 tubes sound I'll believe have to try a pair of their 12AU7 tubes myself now.
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Tom,
I read quite a while back about your search for the ultimate 12au7. It was your thread that got me on my search. However, I needed four tubes, two per amp and I never could find four, or even a matched pair of the Maxda silver plates, so I ultimately gave up, especially since I spent several hundred $$ on the other NOS tubes with no improvement. That was until recently when I decided to try the new Psvane 12au7-T Mk II tubes. Oh man! They were what I had been dreaming of all these years. I think I've finished my search, at least for now with my current amps.
I recently ordered a new tube preamp which uses 6sn7 tubes. I have only had tube preamps which have the 6922 types, so this will be a new experience for me.
Hi again Sherod!
Hmmm 6SN7 tubes huh? Well you'll definitely have to check out Grant Fidelity's direct drop in replacement's the CV-181 TII tubes. I've read where a few people made the 6SN7 to CV-181 TII swap and loved what they heard. I've even considered commissioning a custom preamp that uses 6SN7 tubes so I could do the same, but then I heard WE845 tubes so I'm set for awhile. If you do try the CV-181 TII tubes. Please let us know what you think, ok?
I'm listening to: Inside Out by The Connection
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Tom,
The Psvane CV-181T II tubes are definitely on my list of possible subs. I want to get a feel for the new preamp's sound for a while before I start some tube-rolling. Supposedly, the factory tubes are NOS Sylvania tubes, which have a good reputation.
I like the Psvane small signal tubes too and they do take a lot of hours to come into their own.
Edits: 03/13/14
Tom
Now wasn't that better than me tearing into that beautiful amp and doing a full scale upgrade? You own one of the most beautiful and exotic amps ever made and it uses first rate components to begin with. The new tubes gave you that ohh lala and that's one of the best ways to tweak the amp and that way Mikey doesn't end up with a double hernia trying to lift the amp,not to mention lower back issues.
Glad you love the tubes and those will keep getting better as they play.
Honest amplification is better than excessive 2nd order distortion anytime.
Hi Mikey,
Yes these tubes made an awesome improvement in the sonics of my amp. I still wonder how much better it would sound if you modded it. That said, I can live with the sound I have now for a looooonnnngggg time...
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
Note that the $719 price is per pair.
Yes they're $719 a pair. I noticed I had forgotten to say that and didn't see a way to edit the review after I posted it! I'm glad you reminded me of that and brought it to everyone's attention for me. Even at $719/pr I think they're a sonic bargain for the level of improvement they make to the sound.
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
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