Favourite 6922?

[Mike L]

What is your favourite 6922 or equivalent input tube, and how it sounds in your system relative to others?

Thanks,
Mike

[stereofool]

Hey, I'd be interested in the outcome here, as well.

I've got several pieces of ARC gear using 6922's...and I haven't tried any tube rolling, yet.

[richidoo]

I have used Sovtek and 1970s vintage matsushita (Panasonic) in my Cary integrated. There was a nice but subtle difference there. Steve Sammet (SAS) had JJs in his 11A preamp, which sound lovely. But I preferred the matsushitas in there too. I can't remember what I liked, the JJs were excellent too. I got matsushitas from Vintage Tube Services.
Rich

[rollo]

Well for 6922 or 6DJ8 there are many flavors. Richest by order;  RCA, Mullard, Tungsol, Amperex, Toshiba, Chelmer, Siemans, Tele.

    My advice with tube rolling is either use the same brand throughout or compliment each choice. For example don;t mix Sieman and Tele. Use a RCA or Mullard in front or after to synergize the sound to your liking.
    As far as a favorite it depends on the application. you need to be very carefull with NOS tubes as their character was designated for the dark caps of the day as well as resistors. So what was considerd a great tube back in the day it might not fit with some of the components today.
     If I were to choose the 6DJ8 to take to a desert island it would be the MULLARD 188cc or a 1950s  Amperex pinched waist. Both rare and expensive which sucks.
     As far as modern day 6922 it would be JJ or Chelmer, no Sovteks ever Blah! much to bright. I know my older Audio Research DR 250 used them. Even though the amp was voiced with Sovtek the Amperex and Toshiba solved the problem.


charles

[Bunky]

Amperex 7308-Siemens E88CC-Ei Elite 6922- Pearl cryovalve JJ 6922

[Mike L]

I picked up some Tungsram PCC88's because of a review of my amps that I read.  I have about 45 hours on them and I am not impressed.  They are dead quiet and clean but very mechanical.  They sucked the emotion out of my music.

Associated tubes:

Tungsol 5687 (driver)
Output EH 6CA7 X 4
  ?            6922 X 2

per monoblock

I had some EH 6922 but thought I would try the Tungsram because of the review.  I thought of maybe trying the gold pin version of the EH's.

I am open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Mike

[tanchiro58]

Mike,

I love the 6922's sound but also hate its microphonics (more or less) that bother me all the times. Therefore, my friend suggested to use the PCC189s. Most audiophiles said that they would not consider as substitution for 6922 because PCC189 has 7.3V heat voltage whereas 6.3V in 6922s but they are dead quiet and musical in my Promitheus Apollo preamp even better than the top seeds Cca 6922 and much cheaper. They are variable like Valvo, Telefunken, Mullard, Brimar or Siemens. Try them out in your system. Good luck.

Tan

[ipy]

FYI, in case you did not come across this review of 6922/6DJ8s..

http://www.hktubeaudio.homestead.com/files/6DJ8.html

Luckily? for me, tube rolling isn't required to get the best out of the Herron VTSP-3 according to Keith Herron.  I 'm using the factory fitted or Standard EH 6922s.

[Bill O'Connell]

7308, nuf said

[steve]

I would not put alot of stock in these kinds of reviews. The design, voltages and currents, parts used makes all the difference.

What tube is good with one design is not so good with another design. Probably because they used that particular tube when designing, but then subbed a less expensive tube when selling.

Cheers.

[Carlman]

I've yet to hear an EH tube sound 'really good' as in 'NOS-good' in any design I've tried.  They're not 'bad'... they're just not special or worthy of eloquent review prose in my opinion.
I've heard RCA's sound OK to great.. and a NOS blackplate RCA from the 50's is a different animal to a 70's RCA clear top... There are tons of RCA's and even more Amperex and Siemens... Knowing which ones are the 'special' ones is the key. 

I do agree that the older the better generally but some circuits do shine with some tubes... What's funny is most big manufacturers of tube preamps I've spoken to tell me that the type of tube shouldn't matter... their design is perfect and designed to work with the stock (cheap and adequate) tubes.  I've been told I'm wasting my time with NOS a couple of times.  What's refreshing is folks like Eastern Electric are coming around and encourage experimentation with tube choices. 

-C

[steve]

"I've yet to hear an EH tube sound 'really good' as in 'NOS-good' in any design I've tried."

>I also know some NOS that sound horrible as well. I look at and work with the individual tube. I am sure there are exceptions.

 "They're not 'bad'... they're just not special or worthy of eloquent review prose in my opinion.
I've heard RCA's sound OK to great.. and a NOS blackplate RCA from the 50's is a different animal to a 70's RCA clear top... There are tons of RCA's and even more Amperex and Siemens... Knowing which ones are the 'special' ones is the key."

>Problem is depending upon the circuit, one brand can sound better than another. It would be easy to design a component in which one brand NOS would sound dreadful compared to another NOS or even a new tube. Also, one may be closer to reality, but sound worse, depending on the system one has purchased.

"I do agree that the older the better generally but some circuits do shine with some tubes... What's funny is most big manufacturers of tube preamps I've spoken to tell me that the type of tube shouldn't matter... their design is perfect and designed to work with the stock"

>From school buddies and experience, I bet some manufacturers employ objectivist engineers.

>Maybe the smaller company's "reference" rig does sound better with the stock tube? Who knows? A lot of times a system just does not match up to a product? It is really hard to say.

>They also simply "voice" their component (assuming it is a preamplifier), which says very little about the actual absolute accuracy of the component.

>Trying different tubes to get the closest to right sound or sound one prefers.