12AX7 long plates or short plates?

inspiredsports

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

damm rabbit hole.

RT1

Absotively posolutely.

doctorcilantro

Best EL34 out today is the KT77 by New Sensor. You know I have a quad or so left, and I had 100, and EVERY single person said they were the best new production EL34 they had ever heard; many replaced NOS tubes with them.

heiney9

doctorcilantro wrote: »

Best EL34 out today is the KT77 by New Sensor. You know I have a quad or so left, and I had 100, and EVERY single person said they were the best new production EL34 they had ever heard; many replaced NOS tubes with them.

I know Jon, but I have spent a butt load of money this month on audio related stuff and it's only the 10th. If you want to set aside a pair for a bit I'll buy them in a couple 3 weeks, if not that's cool too.

H9

heiney9

Well, I was going to take buying tubes for the new Norh slowly, but it seems there is to much allure and once I fixate on something it's better to just buy it now and start enjoying.

First, I think I got very lucky on the Ei 12AX7's I bought because doing some furthur ressearch based on the etched codes and the copper rods as well as the dual post getter the Ei's I bought from Germany (NOS w/boxes) seem to be very early Ei's produced by the Philips Co. Rather than the 80's version of the same tube.

Second, I just won a NOS pair of 1959 Valvo Hamburg ECC83 45* slanted getter tubes. I've wanted these for awhile and set my max bid and won them based on the very last penny of my max bid. Can't wait!! Valvo Hamburg tubes are simply awesome.

I also just received at pair of SED Winged "C" EL34's and I have (2) British made 5AR4's one is a Mullard the other is a Blackburn made RCA. I will be buying a pair of Siemens made Mullard xF2's shortly. Got a tremendous deal on a NOS pair in boxes.

If these tubes don't make this amp sing then I'm not sure what will. I got the tube fever bad!!!!!! When I'm done I'll almost have spent 2X what I paid for the amp to have some of the best tubes for it.

If you're going to do it, might as well do it right!!

H9

george daniel

Man,, you got the fever bad,,, have you considered a pair of the Shuggie's (6CA7)?

heiney9

george daniel wrote: »

Man,, you got the fever bad,,, have you considered a pair of the Shuggie's (6CA7)?

Tubes are my crack! I know they have gotten good reviews but I just have such an aversion to current production tubes and especially Chinese made tubes. I suppose if I could hear them before I dropped the coin I'd be more willing to buy them.

Before making any hasty decisions about the EH or SED EL34's I need a better driver tube. I'm using '80's Philips 12AX7 WA blue label and while they are alright I think the Ei's or Valvo's will be much better. Then I can start to evaluate the EL34's I'm using a little better.

Right now even with the British 5AR4 and SED's I don;t get the same euphoria I get with the Dared VP-16 and the RCA 6V6's and 5691's. If all goes well and I decide to keep the Norh, I'll be replacing the WIMA coupling caps with Auricaps, just like in the Dared.............that should help things as well. The Dared is just off the charts, smooth, open and the music just "floats" in the air and the soundstage is huge. It makes the 5B's sound like mini SDA's.

Right now after a short listening session with the SED's (not even broken in yet) the EH's have more bass, the SED's certainly have a better sound stage and seem to be silkier and the clarity seems to be better. The EH's sound sort of hashy and hazy compared to the SED's which are crisp, clear and clean but still very airy.

H9

organ

You're tube crazy!!!!! That's great! I just got back into tubes myself. Did your Ei's arrive yet?
I used to have all the EL34's but slowly sold them off to a guitar friend when I temporarily got back to SS. So now I will start buying all of them again. I'll leave the Gold Lion KT77 for last because it's the most expensive and from what I hear, is suppose to be the best.

I just got a pair of SED too. I kept listening as they broke in. I'm keeping track of their hours. I wasn't impressed with the sound for the first 10 hrs compared to a fully broken in JJ E34L I"ve been listening to for a week. After the 10 hr mark, the sound started to come together. But so far, after 23hrs, it's sounding really good. Soundstage opened up with very lush and detailed sound. Just like when I used to run them many years ago on Dynacos, their strength seems to be in the mid range. So organic and smooth. I find that most of the tube magic for this one is the mids and highs. They never sound dry.

I can't comment on bass because my horns only go to 100hz before the external subs take over.

Let us know how they sound after they break in.

What speakers are you using? With the Norh, you have to play the SET game (go efficient). I noticed you mentioned that thing about the sound "floating in a big soundstage". I feel this is part of the tube magic and it always increases as you go up in speaker efficiency. This is what SET is known for. Your Nohr integrated is a SET amp. So instead of giving up on the int, you might want to try a more efficient pair of speaks.

How many w/ch is the Dared you tried?

heiney9

Organ, I haven't received my Ei's yet they are coming from Germany and I've bought from that seller before so I know they will get here as fast as humanly possible. I did some research after the fact and these look to be older Ei's when Philips was making them. Or I should say when the plant in Yugoslavia was owned by the Philips conglomerate.

The Norh technically is a SEP (Single Ended Pentode) from what I've read. So far so good but I'm hoping to find the right combo of tubes that blows me away.

I am using a pair of early 4 ohm modded Polk Monitor 5B's in an office rig, smaller 2nd bedroom sized room. It works well for the size of the room

The Dared is a VP-16 Push/Pull @ a rated 16wpc but I think it's closer to 12-14 wpc. It uses (4) 6V6 of which I use early 50's RCA black plate, gray glass. (2) 6SL7's which I use a pair of 50's RCA redbase 5691, black plate, 3 mica, 5 support rod. Stock Auricaps as coupling caps.

It's a sweet sounding amp that so far has the Norh beat. We'll see once i get better tubes in the Norh

The Norh retailed for $399 and the Dared for $795, perhaps not a totally fair comparo, but we'll see.

H9

organ

So sorry. I keep thinking your Norh is triode strapped like my integrated.
That's another option for you. You lose half your power in triode, but tube magic increases. It's only a 10 minute mod.

Hope you find the right combination of tubes.

Another thing to consider, after checking with the manufacturer of your int, is to use a 274B rectifier tube. People say it makes a big difference. I have one but haven't tried it yet.

Keep us posted.

heiney9

The main thing is I'm having fun with both amps, and the Norh still sounds a lot better than any SS unit I've had in the office rig. So I don't want people to think it sounds bad, because it sounds quite nice.............I'm just looking for a little more.

H9

organ

That's the important thing. I'm not knocking the Norh. I know a few people who used to own the SE-9 and loved them.

btw, forgot to mention on my previous post. When I was at my dealer yesterday, I saw a used SE-9 that a customer brought in. He's using the 274B rectifier I told you about. $15 from Valve Art. So I'm guessing, it's ok to run it on that unit.