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In Reply to: RE: 6SL7 - your experience with the Russian tubes? posted by ivan_terrible on February 13, 2016 at 21:23:40
Hi Ivan,
Thank you very much for your overview! I have some experience with Russian tubes and equipment, so I am not totally a stranger to the fact that the USSR produced some excellent equipment. I have a re-build priboi amplifier (75w version), and after some modifications to the driver stage and replacement of the terrible electrolytic caps I am very pleased with the sound. I also have a GZM series Latvian made phono cartridge I am quite happy with on a second system. I have seen Lomo speakers, (would love to hear their theatre systems) and heard some amazing DIY efforts (using local materials) while travelling in Belarus.
it is really interesting to know that Svetlana made a 6SL7. I am going to have a look at the website you quoted, it looks like a great source.
I should note that although the 6N7 tubes I bought are a disappointment, I had excellent luck with the EF86 svetlana equivalents, and the G-807. I by no means dismiss Russian tubes in general, but understand they must be evaluated on a case by case basis.
Best regards
Max
Follow Ups:
Svetlana no longer make valves.
The EF86 you cite is obsolete.
They now became SED since their name and brand got stolen and ceased consumer production.
that makes all other Svetlana valves that are obsolete.
("Svetlana".com ie. "new sensor", is NOT the same company. I have a strong suspicion to be confirmed, the IP came from St Petersburg for a lot of the production in Saratov.
This would explain rather a lot, once I guess Svetlana SPB became totally p..ssd off! Nothing annoys companies more than having IP and names stolen!)
St Petersburg is still a great city of 5 million people, with a large population nearby with a lot of expertise in many domains.
In Russia they say SPB is the head, NN are the lungs.
Nizhny Novgorod used to be one of the main engineering motors of Russia.
A lot of the optical industry are made both in SPB and relatively nearby Vologda centre of excellence.
Russian optics are world class, and very cheap.
My lenses are made in Russia, the titanium from Russia, made into frames in China then reimported, but still costs 1/10 of the price in Europe!
You may not know this.
Saratov is only 850 000.
For engineering, SIZE, IP, and skills do matter.
Oh, I meant the svetlana factory in st Petersburg and their soviet era production, not
Their 21st century products. Although I did have a set of their pre new sensor EL34s in the late 1990s and was impressed.
From what I understand, quite a lot of production rejects from Svetlana found their way onto the market....
Probably this couldn't happen in the 80s and 90s? Who knows?
It's an ongoing syndrome in any production environment, as production winds down for production "not deemed to have any future", quality control usually ends up going to pot, then a lot of rejects stop being rejected.
Once a factory production line is dismantled with all it's "Special ways/kludges of solving weird and wonderful problems", big economies of scale with certain metal suppliers, then you will never really do it again quite like that.
If you then start with eg. a valve design which came from an entirely different basis and mess about modifying that to end up being something different, with people set in their ways....
Lots of valves were made after the British invention of radar, because there's nothing that concentrates the mind quite as well as to be shot at or bombed, or simply in the USSR being shot for being an enemy of the people.
It's a good old tradition which seems to be enjoying a remarkable comeback just now.
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