VAC phi200's

Tubes have been ordered (fingers are crossed! LOL!)

10, 1940 RCA 6SN7GT VT231 - NOS (2 extra)
10, Svetlana KT88's - New (2 extra)
 
When you say Svetlana KT-88s, do you mean real Svetlana or Sovtek KT-88s?
 
Mike, I've been spending a lot of time researching the same subject. As you know, I have two MC275s coming in the next couple of weeks. Another tube that keeps coming up in my search is the Penta KT88SC. I would suggest asking the people at VAC about them.

The distributer is:

http://dougstubes.com
 
Mike….Just realized that you already made your decision. I'm looking forward to hearing how you came by that choice and eventually, and more importantly, how they sound. I think that you are in for a treat. I kept wavering back and forth between the MC275s and the Phi200.
 
Bruce - those tubes you suggested look great. I may get to those instead of the Svetlana's. But I'm definitely getting the old 1940's RCA's! :woot:
 
Mike said:
Bruce - those tubes you suggested look great. I may get to those instead of the Svetlana's. But I'm definitely getting the old 1940's RCA's! :woot:
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I know Mike. In my searches, I keep coming across them. Many knowledgable posts discussing and recommending them. I was all set on the Genalex. Ironically, the Pentas are the exact replicas of the original Gold Lions. The Genalex reissues are not. If you decide on them, make sure to look for the "SC". I read in a couple of places that it stands for "strict copy" of the original Gold Lions. I don't know for certain that it is the case.
 
Mike said:
Svetlana. Why?
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Simply because their is a real difference between SED KT-88s and Sovtek KT-88s that are branded as Svetlana. New Sensor acquired the rights to the Svetlana name and real Svetlana tubes have to be sold under the SED name.
 
mep said:
Simply because their is a real difference between SED KT-88s and Sovtek KT-88s that are branded as Svetlana. New Sensor acquired the rights to the Svetlana name and real Svetlana tubes have to be sold under the SED name.
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I've cancelled the KT88 order and I'm looking at the KT88's Bruce recommended. The Winged C KT88's are the ones I'm trying to track down....but not having much luck.
 
While I'm at it, I'm going to try some different tubes in my ARC REF2SE. I took a look this morning, and the stock tubes are Sovtek.

I was speaking with a fellow yesterday who owns a tube store and he was telling me the stock tubes in his VTL stereo amp were just awful. Once he put in some NOS, they amps were teleported to a new level of musicality and resolve.

My guess is that tube amp, preamp manufacturers put in the cheap Chinese or Russian tubes because they are readily available. Maybe they just assume Joe Q public will just tube roll anyway with NOS.

Who knows....
 
Mike said:
The Gold Lion reissues also look good.
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I've only used their 12AX7's but I like what I hear from them. A very quiet tube with good extension and a nice top end. No muddiness or harshness either. Maybe not as sweet sounding as a NOS RCA or Mullard tube but for a new production tube it's a winner in my book. I want to try the KT77's in my amp soon.

Mike said:
Brent said not to use the 6550's. KT88's only.
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That's too bad. You can find the SED 6550's around.
 
Mike said:
The Gold Lion reissues also look good.
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I just went through some swapping with the Bia120.....did some searching around and found many to report the current KT88 Gold Lions are good, many even say there better than early vintage (YMMV of course)......so I decided to give them a try and found them great, much more so than the JJ's, EH, Sovtek, Chinese, etc, although didn't try early stuff.

Try here Tube & Information Page Jim is very knowledgeable and one of the very few I trust regarding tubes!
 
Mike said:
While I'm at it, I'm going to try some different tubes in my ARC REF2SE. I took a look this morning, and the stock tubes are Sovtek.

I was speaking with a fellow yesterday who owns a tube store and he was telling me the stock tubes in his VTL stereo amp were just awful. Once he put in some NOS, they amps were teleported to a new level of musicality and resolve.

My guess is that tube amp, preamp manufacturers put in the cheap Chinese or Russian tubes because they are readily available. Maybe they just assume Joe Q public will just tube roll anyway with NOS.

Who knows....
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I'll be interested in reading how the ARC does with different tubes. I've been thinking about doing that with my Chinook.

Some people think NOS tubes are the holy grail. I'm not here to say they aren't and I love buying and trying different tubes, many NOS, in my gear as well. I find that a lot of it has to do with the gear. For example, I can put in different preamp tubes and hear no difference what so ever. I could just be me too though. For times like this it doesn't make sense to me to buy a $150 NOS tube when I can buy a $40 new production tube and get the same sound. Now in that same amp I can swap driver tubes and hear a difference between new and old tubes, go figure.
 
A/V Solutions said:
I just went through some swapping with the Bia120.....did some searching around and found many to report the current KT88 Gold Lions are good, many even say there better than early vintage (YMMV of course)......so I decided to give them a try and found them great, much more so than the JJ's, EH, Sovtek, Chinese, etc, although didn't try early stuff.

Try here Tube & Information Page Jim is very knowledgeable and one of the very few I trust regarding tubes!
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Jeff - I ordered the GoldLion reissues this morning. In the 2301's - they were much better than the stock tubes.

Mike
 
veindoc said:
curious what room the VAC will occupy. Alexia vs S5. Maybe a dumb waiter or long cables will allow for use with both?

Nick
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Nick - I'm going to have the Dag monos and VAC phi200's with the Alexia's. Dag preamp will be sole preamp (for now). I know I'm swimming against the flow here, but I prefer tube amps and SS preamps. I may try borrow a VAC preamp to try one day. But too many tubes and things become mushy. Did I just say that? :)

I'm looking at a pair of Mc 275 mk6's and a C50 preamp for the Magico S5's. I may prefer the Mc's on the Alexia's and the VAC's on the S5's and then I can just swap.
 
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