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In Reply to: Ceramic Tube Sockets posted by cmathes on February 23, 2005 at 05:38:27:
>Has anyone tried tweaking/upgrading the tube sockets? If it is a worthwile improvement, I am interested.There is nothing inherently wrong with a ceramic tube socket; this said, it is nearly impossible to find a ceramic socket worth owning. Most ceramic sockets sold today are Chinese-cheapos, with gold or silver washed pins. Note I said 'washed' and not 'plated'. Overall quality is pretty shoddy, and the precious metal wash does nothing for the sound of the equipment. What it *does* do, is create a dissimilar metal connection in the tube socket between the tin tube pins and the gold/silver sockets.
To further the problems, the gold/silver wash wears through quickly to expose the base metal. Now we have three (or four, if the pins are base metal -> copper wash -> precious metal) dissimilar metals all at work in a hot location. Not desirable.
All this said, the particular set of amps in question is / was owned by Paul Speltz of ZERO Autoformer fame. I know Paul very well, and I would trust implicitly any piece of gear that has passed through his hands. Also, I have no idea what his source was for the sockets, and Paul tends to be a real stickler for quality.
Tube socket concerns aside, I suspect that this would be a really super set of amps to own. My trust in Paul's workmanship and ethics are unfailing. Also of note, his wife is a great cook ;-)
Hope this helps,
Bill Layer
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Follow Ups
- Re: Ceramic Tube Sockets - Legendre 15:45:16 02/23/05 (1)
- Re: Ceramic Tube Sockets - cmathes 16:43:44 02/23/05 (0)
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