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In Reply to: RE: Darn you, Winston ... posted by Sondek on October 13, 2015 at 18:03:43
...and I suspect you will find what I found: the Cryoset Genalex takes an already great new offering and just bumps up the performance a number of notches, especially in the detail and speed areas, along with air and spaciousness, which is where the Genalex can use just a touch of help, compared to a real, NOS Mullard. The cryoed Genalex GZ-34 was a boat-floater in my system. I loved it.
Of course, Mullards, are, well, Mullards. What can you say? A classic tube, deserving of every single word of praise and more.
But that Genalex, well, when Ron was telling me, "Winston, give one a shot, you'll be pleasantly surprised, and you might even retire that Mullard", I was VERY skeptical, being a Mullard man. But he was right. The inherent sweetness and musicality of the Genalex was simply enhanced by the addition of so much air and openness and speed, which really made magic. Not that the stock Genalex was a slouch there, at least from what I have read. Jim McShane and others would know infinitely more about the stock Genalex GZ34 sound, but I know for a fact he loves that tube, and I am now a total fan as well, except I am limited to the cryo'ed version in my experience. But I'm sure the stock Genalex is a killer, too. If Jim says so, I'm sure it is, too.
I just love the fact that these are all easily available tubes that Cryoset improves (IMHO) by the cryo process, so we have an unlimited supply, in a sense, thereby allowing anyone to really get near unobtanium sound for a lot less cash.
And as the years roll by, the Mullards will simply get dearer and dearer. While the cryoed Genalex should stay roughly the same price, which is pretty reasonable, all things considered.
I get excited about current production tubes because they are made here and now, and they will not 'run out' (hopefully), unlike the NOS beauties that we all know, love and covet. I adore the NOS, too. But to know I have a basically unlimited supply of great current production tubes that will not break the bank is great comfort for a tube nut like me.
Let us know what you hear. I think you'll be very pleased. I was.
Best of luck, and keep in touch. Agree or disagree, I want to hear what you heard and thought about them once they break in. Let them run for a good 100 hours or so before making any judgements, though. They really open up and sing with some time on them, as does most any fine tube.
All the best.
Cheers!
WS
Follow Ups:
Winston,
Thanks for the follow-up. I'll put them on my shopping list, although my motivation is tempered at the moment by the fact that I have no system to listen to. My Acoustat servos are with Mr. Savuto of Analogue Associates for a major rebuild, and my Primaluna CD player is in the shop for repair. Not much I can do with only a turntable, preamp and some electrostatic panels. It's my Primaluna that uses the 5AR4's. It's a dual mono design right down to dual rectifiers. I've been using 5R4GYS's in place of the stock Chinese 5AR4's on Kevin Deal's recommendation. Those Philips 5R4's, if nothing else, won the battle on looks alone. Big coke-bottles. But in addition to looks, they sound really sweet too and a definite step up from stock. I've had my eye on those Russian 5AR4's since they came out, but have been on the fence because I've been so happy with the Philips rectifiers. Your recco is the nudge I needed I guess to get off the fence.
Since we're on the topic of Ron's wares, I can HIGHLY recommend the premium versions of the JJ small tubes he sells. The 802s, 803s, 5751 and 6922 are all winners and very much preferred to the Russian stuff in my system. The JJ 6922's are the closest in sound of all the new production stuff I've tried to my beloved Tele 6922's. I got a bad taste in my mouth for JJ a couple of three years back when their QA was for crap. The tubes sounded good, but two weeks use and they'd throw a hissy-fit. I started buying them again a year or so ago, and have not had a single issue with any of them. Dead quite and durable. Very happily using JJ 6922's as input to phono in my CAT SL1. The CAT loves them.
Best,
Mike
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