Author Topic: What have you found to be best...  (Read 22346 times)

Offline richidoo

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #15 on: October 05, 2009, 04:27:30 AM »
3-4 years ago JJ made a lot of tubes of various types with pins that are a few thousands of an inch too small. IIRC, nominal pin diameter is about 0.094", or 3/32".  This caused a lot of problems with poor connections. A really stupid way to fix the problem is to tighten the contact instead of returning the tubes. But that's great that you could fix it yourself. By now all of the small pin tubes should have been purged from the system. New JJs have the correct size pins.

Enjoy your break in time... 100 hours should do wonders.

JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2009, 08:59:25 AM »
Hi Richidoo,

That is good info as I was quite leery of buying any JJ tubes.  I really should have taken pictures of the two worst tube sockets.  Several of the pin receivers had in an inverse bend somewhere in the circumference and most of them had overlapping at the seams.  Lets see, 8 octal tube sockets that's 64 pin receivers (or whatever their real name is) each one requiring reaming twice with two different sized drill bits.  And the bloody pins were still a tight fit.  :!:  But ultimately that's a good thing.

They are fairly inexpensive bakelite or phenolic with eutectic brass connectors so I can see replacing them with some nice ceramic units.

You hit the nail on the head about the p.o. being somewhat intellectually challenged.  If you had been there the day I went to buy the amps you would have been asking  :wtf:  An interesting scenario to say the least and yes I'll spill it here in a future post.  One must pace oneself you know.

Now excuse me, I have to go fire up the main rig and get some hours on these tubes.  :D/

Jake


Offline rollo

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #17 on: October 05, 2009, 10:41:10 AM »
I thought I was the only one using  Mapleshade spkr. cables. Nice set up jake. For a while I thought my tubes were going south. In fact it was the sockets that were the culprit. For whats its worth, once replaced my tube noise was a thing of the past. I cleaned the existing sockets, tightened them up but again not until they were replaced did my tube dilemma end.


charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
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JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #18 on: October 06, 2009, 09:48:52 AM »
Hi Charles,

Thanks for the kind words.  I read, with great interest, your writings concerning the Supra cables.  :-k

I also am experiencing some faint crackling from the speakers at first turn on of the amps but it stops within a minute or so and seems to be related to warm-up.  I am paying attention to this to see if goes away as the tubes run in.  [-o<

What tube sockets did you choose?  I am leaning toward these but at a total of $335.40 plus shipping I did make a gasping noise.  Soon, though, soon.

Regards,
Jake




Offline richidoo

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #19 on: October 06, 2009, 10:01:25 AM »
I just retubed a preamp with 8 new tubes, It was noisy at first, and rough sounding, but after a few hours it smoothed out.  It's just contaminants burning off.

mgalusha

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #20 on: October 06, 2009, 11:38:58 AM »
You can get Teflon sockets with machined pin receivers for somewhat less $$.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/product7503.html

I have used these in a few projects with good results. I have heard it's possible to wear out the teflon if tubes are pulled really often but I've never had this problem.


What tube sockets did you choose?  I am leaning toward these but at a total of $335.40 plus shipping I did make a gasping noise. 

Offline rollo

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #21 on: October 07, 2009, 09:09:31 AM »
Hi Charles,

Thanks for the kind words.  I read, with great interest, your writings concerning the Supra cables.  :-k

I also am experiencing some faint crackling from the speakers at first turn on of the amps but it stops within a minute or so and seems to be related to warm-up.  I am paying attention to this to see if goes away as the tubes run in.  [-o<

What tube sockets did you choose?  I am leaning toward these but at a total of $335.40 plus shipping I did make a gasping noise.  Soon, though, soon.

Regards,
Jake





The Teflon babies at 19.95 woked out very well. Only needed 6 so not so bad. All the noise and minor crackling of the tubes is now gone,gone,gone.     Pins are very tight. The jury is still out on the Supra cables. With the JPS in the house [ Aluminata] I've been playing around. The all JPS system is very warm sexy and quiet as a Church mouse. Colored but in a very pleasant way. Rich, full yet detailed enough. Very very quiet cable.
  When I leave the JPS SC-3 IC in the system { from Pre to amp and sub and add the Supra Ply 5.1 spkr. cable I loose the fullness a bit but the clarity and dynamics are better. A trade off for sure but the difference in admission $5.50/ ft as opposed to over$1000/ft. is quite easy to accept. Yes overall the nod goes to the JPS. In all fairness the Aluminata did not have a great synergy with my amps [SET ]. The SC-3 would be a better match according to Shane.
  Surprisingly the Stealth silver ribbons that were out of the system actually sounded quite good. I changed the caps in the amp to V-Cap Teflons and the smoother presentation of Teflon allowed the silver to syner do its thing, expose all. Neutral as neutral can be. Again thinner than the JPS but the detail and clarity was quite something.
 So the Supra cable offered a bit of both the personalities of the JPS and Stealth. Not equaling either in total performance but the call was close too close for the price.
  If I had the scratch an all JPS wired system would be the choice . Right now for my system the JPS ICs are the key IMO and the speaker cable can be the tradeoff.


charles
contact me  at rollo14@verizon.net or visit us on Facebook
Lamm Industries - Aqua Acoustic, Formula & La Scala DAC- INNUOS  - Rethm - Kuzma - QLN - Audio Hungary Qualiton - Fritz speakers -Gigawatt -Vinnie Rossi,TWL, Swiss Cables, Merason DAC.

JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #22 on: October 07, 2009, 05:10:25 PM »
Hi Gents,

Well I'm about 25 or so hours into the run in and they open up and then go thin over the course of a few hours but once warmed up well settle down to sounding quite nice,  well balanced top to bottom, sweet on top.  Amazing bass slam compared to the JJs in my amps.  Also the JJs exhibit more sparkle in the treble so I may or may not like that when I go back to taste them again.  Oh, all warm up noise seems to have gone away.

The Gold Lions are in so after the Pentas are done cookin' I'll plug them in and start it all over again.  Wheee!  :twisted:

More to come,
JakeJ

Offline richidoo

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #23 on: October 07, 2009, 05:35:08 PM »
The Gold Lions are in so after the Pentas are done cookin' I'll plug them in and start it all over again.  Wheee! 

That will be fun, they are very good.

JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #24 on: October 07, 2009, 06:45:00 PM »
Absolutely!  :mrgreen:

Russia's near best versus China's near best.  It will be interesting.  If I had the scratch it would be neat to do Black Sables versus Black Treasures.  :drool:


Offline bmr3hc

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #25 on: October 28, 2009, 05:54:17 AM »
I have the Gold Lion KT88 and love them in my Music Reference amp. Prior to these I used Siemens EL 34's and 6550's from Audio Research batch. Looking forward to hearing how the GL sound in your system. Give them a few hours of break-in before critical listening. Should be better than good between 40-50 hours. They will be about 50% after 10-20 hours.

Henry
"If music be the food of love, play on."  Shakespeare

JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #26 on: October 28, 2009, 07:18:47 AM »
Mornin' Henry!

Thanks for the tip.  I found the Pentas had pretty much settled down after about the 50 hour mark as well.  It's been pretty smooth sailing and I do like the more natural presentation they have over the JJs.  I can safely say I won't be going back to the JJs as they are colored to my ears and the pins are too small (came from a bad batch several years back).

I'll be trying the GLs soon.

JakeJ

Offline Lizard_king

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #27 on: November 07, 2009, 09:50:34 AM »
I have a Vac PA100/100 and nothing beats the Real McCoy- Genelex pre 1970 KT88 tubes! I have sloe tried Richardson Electronics and they are good. I love my 1969 Gold monarchs!


...in your amp.

Hello fellow Tubeheads,

I am in the market for new output tubes for my VAC PA-160 amps and have been researching the web.  I have been following an AC thread by members Pez and Tyson who have come to the conclusion that the Penta Labs KT88 is better sounding than the Gold Lion reissues.  Both tubes are based on the MOV KT88 but according to these fellows the Chinese are doing a better job for Penta Labs.

I'm interested in whether any AN members have an opinion to add to my confusion?  Especially if you are using a VAC amp.  I do know that the amps were originally designed around the Golden Dragon KT88 which is now pretty much unobtainium.  I should mention that while I have a very nice stereo it was all purchased on the used market as my income level would never allow me to play on this level at the original retail prices.  Thus I am looking for "affordable" tubes and that means I'm shooting to stay under ~$400.

Thanks you gentlemen.

BR,
JakeJ

JakeJ

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #28 on: November 07, 2009, 02:44:55 PM »
Hi Lizard_king,

I'll bet original Genalex KT 88s are the cat's meow!  What do you suppose a matched octet of NOS would cost?  Unfortunately that's pretty much unobtainium for me.  Looking around on A'gon and eBay I see an individual tube going for $175 and a quad is listed for $1499!  Wow, is he ever proud of those!

You see, even if that $1500 was for an octet I could buy three octets of modern production KT 88s and have change leftover.  That's how I have to think about it.  I can wrap my brain around as much as $60-80 for a NOS small signal tube but they often go for much more.  I'm a cheapskate by necessity.

I have yet to plug in my "Genalex" KT 88 reissues (fake) as I've been just a bit busy being sick with the flu, fortunately not the H1N1.  I do expect there to be some differences between the Penta Labs and the reissue GLs as they are made in completely different factories, in different countries.  It is kinda cool though as really this is a comparison of two different companies interpretation of the original.  If I had the scratch to go NOS I would and still play around with the reissues including the Shuguang Black Treasures.  :drool:

BR,
JakeJ

Offline Lizard_king

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Re: What have you found to be best...
« Reply #29 on: November 07, 2009, 11:59:59 PM »
Hey,

I have a matched Quad set of Richardson KT88 tubes that test excellent! Let me know if you want them.

Liz

I have a Vac PA100/100 and nothing beats the Real McCoy- Genelex pre 1970 KT88 tubes! I have sloe tried Richardson Electronics and they are good. I love my 1969 Gold monarchs!


...in your amp.

Hello fellow Tubeheads,

I am in the market for new output tubes for my VAC PA-160 amps and have been researching the web.  I have been following an AC thread by members Pez and Tyson who have come to the conclusion that the Penta Labs KT88 is better sounding than the Gold Lion reissues.  Both tubes are based on the MOV KT88 but according to these fellows the Chinese are doing a better job for Penta Labs.

I'm interested in whether any AN members have an opinion to add to my confusion?  Especially if you are using a VAC amp.  I do know that the amps were originally designed around the Golden Dragon KT88 which is now pretty much unobtainium.  I should mention that while I have a very nice stereo it was all purchased on the used market as my income level would never allow me to play on this level at the original retail prices.  Thus I am looking for "affordable" tubes and that means I'm shooting to stay under ~$400.

Thanks you gentlemen.

BR,
JakeJ