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In Reply to: Yep, Henry posted by blackdog on September 8, 2006 at 13:56:02:
Others may disagree. I say, why not play Piano and Violin for 44 years and then tell me the Chinese tubes sound right? They do not.Get a set of Groove Tube Mullard styles, or some vintage Teles. Others have commented on the benefits of tube rolling. I can tell you the Jolida climbs to a higher level with the appropriate 12AX7 and the Chinese tubes just do not get you there.
Follow Ups:
there's a post above you should examine carefully. Hopefully you'll pick up an important point or two which will give you pause before treating us to your hubris in the future.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
It is system dependant. I bought a set of Mullards on your reccomendation for the JD9 I had, burned em in for 30 hours, and didnt like them any better than the stock Chinese tubes.
I didnt like the SOvtek LPS either. Surprisingly 'in my system', a pair of Philips Jan tubes sounded best. And I didn't like the sound of the Philips tubes in my Jolida CD player, so go figure.The GT Mullards are chinese made, but you know that, right?
I likewise didn't prefer the Sovtek LPS tubes in a stock JD9. The LPS were "objectively" better, quieter for example, but ultimately I didn't enjoy the sound as much ... the was something about the stock tubes that I found more natural sounding. The LPS tubes found their way into my Jolida JD-100 CD Player where I did prefer them over the tock tubes ... that said the stock tubes sounded very good in the CDP as well.I subsequently went down the upgrade path with my JD9, now a Underwood HiFi/Parts Connection Level III with EH tubes. I suspect I'd opt for the EH tubes in a stock JD9 but again I very much doubt it would be a complete route ... those stock tubes are very good IMHO.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Scott,
I agree. And since several of us have NOT found the stock Chinese tubes to be a "detriment" to the sound, maybe Tubes had a defective set, a system mismatch or "defective" ears. . . ;8^)
HenryA 12-gauge shotgun is the ultimate arbiter of disputes - G. Gordon Liddy
well.. we've all got defective ears now and again.. but i sure haven't found any of the chinese preamp tubes sounding nearly so nice or correct as the good metallurgy of the older american tubes.. electroharmonix and even sovteks sound just plain awful in everything down to a phase splitter in my system anyplace.. gritty and harsh. they WORK.. but it ain't always pretty..can't say i've tried 'em all though.. there's loads of people doing ok with them.. but there's also a lotta people whose only sonic parameter is 'detail'.. and that ain't me, and i speculate, it's also mr. tubes..
hard to justify the blind brand loyalty and gouging of the NOS market.. i've had just as bad sounds with mullards too.. but telefunkens..mmmmmmmmmm.. i'll lay down for those when they aren't microphonic- haven't hit a smooth plate that WORKED and didn't sound beautimous..
2c worth of crap...
The Gold Electro harmonix 12au7 and 12at7 (vtl 2.5 preamp)sound really good. I had the stock chinese tubes in the unit for a while, then moved up to these.I have standard EH 12AX7's in my EAR834P, I'm thinking of changing those out to the gold versions
I'm using the standard EH 6SN7s in my Rogue Metis preamp after a pair of expensive NOS RCA grey tops crapped out after a week (Grrrrrr). I have a matched pair of gold pin EHs as a backup to the regular ones. I also have a pair of gold pin EH 12AX7s as backup to the Chinese tubes in my JD-9a. Generally, I've found EHs to be solid, if not spectacular, performers.
HenryA 12-gauge shotgun is the ultimate arbiter of disputes - G. Gordon Liddy
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