Suggestions for 6SN7 Tubes

Since both my Audio Mirror mono blocks and the Dennis Had headphone amp use 6SN7's I decided to get a few sets to roll. I already have the tubes that came with the AM... I believe they are NOS Russian tubes, NOS Sylvania that were an option for the DH, and the RCA VT231 Gray Glass, I decided to pick up a set of 1952 Sylvania Bad Boys and a set of 1956 CBS-Hytron brown base 5692's (I believe they actually manufactured most if not all of the brown bases). These are supposed to compare very favorably against the RCA/GE red base tubes. So this gives me five good options to roll with until I decide on maybe something more exotic or trying adapters down the road.

Thanks for all the input. As always, you guys are great!
 
Randy,
The Sylvania bad boys are my favorite 6sn7 tubes. I like them even better than the round plate tungsols in my preamp. Just make sure they have 3 holes in there plates. Those are the ones you want.
 
The ones I purchased were advertised as NOS Sylvania Bad Boy's and in the description it states the-holes in the plates!
 
I had a nice discussion with Vladimir last evening. I had an issue with the new pre-amp that he built for me which he is taking care of. He did tell me the tube he likes the best to roll in replacement of the 6SN7 in the amplifiers is the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z. In his view he believes they sound the best in his amplifiers. I was a little concerned about their oversized base and glass bubble fitting next to the 6c33c output tubes. He said they do not interfere with each other.

Maybe I will try these as a treat after a while. For now I will have some nice tubes to roll in and listen to :)....
 
The 1956 CBS/Hytron Brown Base 5692 tubes arrived. Much quieter then the RCA Gray Glass. So far quite impressed with the sound quality. Very musical... hard to describe, but very inviting sounding in my SET amp... and even though I didn't think it was possible, the sound stage is even better....
 
So the Sylvania Bad Boys arrived yesterday. I had to try them for a brief period just to make sure they were good :). Obviously not enough time to even let them completely warm up, but from a very brief listen I did get an idea of what they are all about.

Over all I would say the Brown Base are probably a bit more musical, that special something that is so hard to describe. However, I was impressed with how open and airy sounding the Bad Boys are. Very smooth and detailed mids and upper mids with a very inviting vocal range. Not as much low end detail (but that may improve with warm up time as I have seen with other components). The one thing that was very different from the Brown Base is the Bad Boy's sound stage was very forward while with the CBS the sound stage seems to be more laid back or maybe deeper.

Certainly a completely different listening experience with each of these tubes, which surprises me actually. I would say so far my order of preferences would be:
1) CBS/Hytron Brown Base 5692 for over all musicality and deeper low end
2) Sylvania Bad Boys for open airiness and vocal range detail
3) RCA Gray Glass VT-231 for over all inviting sounding and musicality
4) The original Russian tubes provided with the Audio Mirror amplifiers, just an overall good performer
5) The Sylvania later generation NOS, a tad overly bright, while detailed not quite as musical to my ears

Obviously with more listening and break in this may change, but these are my first over all impressions... interesting seeing how different NOS tubes actually sound with my gear.
 
Lots of 6SN7 tubes in use in my system now :)... so here is how it is all playing out. The RCA Gray Glass did not work well in the preamplifier. Noisy and thin sounding, however they work very well in the Dennis Had headphone amp. No issues with noise and nice and full sounding. What works well in the preamp is the Sylvania Bad Boys in the voltage gain stage and the CBS Brown Base in the output stage. The Black Treasure CV-181z work very well in the Audio Mirror amps. They sound pretty amazing!
 
It's tough to find a good driver and 6sn7 GTb is even harder
I have two I don't see listed here.
One is Marconi 6sn7gtb very neural
the oither needs a adaptor for me it's the best of th dual drivers
it is called by a few names
one is VT99. Another is 6f8g.
 
Ok can't upload pics lol.
Anyway has anyone used any set drivers
Some of them thst I have tried are
vt94a
L63
VT229
VT229
you need an adaptor tonuse these it allows the use of two of these to be as one 6sn7 type dual triode. A bud turned me onto them. The tubes are mostly cheap since the world now uses dual and not single.
 
6d6f195c-78d1-4cb1-ae38-40186051dc6d
 
The Black Treasures are the driver tubes in the Audio Mirror amps. Very nice indeed and Vlad suggested them to me. He told me he felt they were the best driver tube match for his amplifiers.
 
I do have the Phillips Rectifier in the Dennis Had Dragon Inspire and the 6sl7's input tubes for the Audio Mirror are also a NOS Phillips.
 
Now that I am sticking with the Audio Mirror amps I decided to do some rolling again.

The 1952 Sylvania Chrome Dome are very detailed, maybe even a tad too much. They produce a very forward image (which really surprises me). Excellent impact... maybe a tad too much in your face for my taste.

The 1956 CBS 5692 Brown Base are very nice. Inviting and musical in every way. They draw me into the music much more so then the Sylvania's.

The Black Treasures are a bit over-sized and because the porcelain base is bigger they do not fit snug to the tube connector because there are chassis nuts that interfere. Vlad says this is not an issue, they are making plenty enough contact. They are pretty amazing in every way. Everything I like about the CBS is brought to an even higher level.

I had a pair of RCA Gray Glass VT231 and have tried a couple others. The RCA ended up being a little noisy, but very nice image! Anything else worth considering?
 
Thank you... I have been a bit concerned with using adapters. Afraid that I will get the incorrect one and end up damaging my amp or something :)....
 
Now if you really want to go off the deep end you can replace the 6SL7's by using a 7F7 & an adapter.
Dick Olsher really likes the "7" series of Loktal tubes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top