Genalex redux - Gold Lion tubes
joecoulson
Posts: 4,943
What are thoughts on these? They get good reviews online but I typically trust the ears on this forum better than most of the web.
Comments
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Power tubes?
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Pre. 12au7
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Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
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Yeah but I’m not sticking with that Chinese tube that comes in it, that’s like using the original RCA cables that come with CDplayers.
I used to roll quite a few tubes when I had my Jolida integrated. Like we talked about, I’m probably going a certain direction with this and will be getting back into it with future purchases -
Find some 1950's 60's tubes will run circles around the gold lions i bet. How many you need? There are some darn good tubes out there to be had.
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Just one!
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Can't hurt to try one i guess but holy cow man I'd try dozens of of older 50's-60's tubes before I'd even think about any Russian tubes. At 40+ per tube from what i see there are many out there I'd rather spend money on.
Just a sample
Like these
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-VINTAGE-BLACKBURN-MULLARD-12AU7-ECC82-TUBES-RIBBED-GRAY-GREY-PLATE-PREAMP-AMP/372524593468?hash=item56bc32313c:g:nnMAAOSw5-hcB2KJ
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12AU7-ECC82-Amperex-Bugle-Boy-Treble-Clef-Holland-1959-rare-tube-439/123521831747?epid=141027887&hash=item1cc2799343:g:I4sAAOSwN3NcAzAK -
While NOS tubes are great, the GLs are nice in a phono stage. They sound good and they are quiet.
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Thank you. I was hoping someone had some real world exp with these as they are highly regarded in store reviews.
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I've tried the 12AX7 Gold Lions before and frankly they were not as good as the better NOS 12AX7 types out there. If you are trying 12AU7s I highly recommend the CBS-Hytron 5814. It's my favorite in the 12AU7 family.
BTW the Gold Lion KT88s are very good sounding so I don't have anything against the new production Gold Lions. I just think there are better options out there in the 12**7 family. -
Gotcha. Well wanted to get up and running on a non-Chinese variant and do my homework on whatever NOS I roll to next. I’m sure it will be light years ahead of the stock one
