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Singlepower tube rolling thread - Page 2

post #16 of 334
9/17/03 at 4:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by tom hankins

Anyone tried Mullard's or Raytheon's?
I've tried one variant of the Raytheon VT-231 (flat plate) and got bored with it quickly. It just didn't have the finesse of the better VT-231's. Brimar round plate 6SN7GT's were even worse. Bleah. I haven't heard Mullards yet.
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post #17 of 334
9/17/03 at 4:23pm
Is there any significance difference between Sylvania blackplate and Sylvania green label?
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post #18 of 334
9/17/03 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Habib
Is there any significance difference between Sylvania blackplate and Sylvania green label?
If the tube has black T-plates, the green label is simply a later version. In the 40's, the tube had a white label. By 1950 or thereabouts, the label had changed to green. There are some Sylvania green label tubes that use gray plates instead of blackplates, though.
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post #19 of 334
9/17/03 at 6:44pm

Sylvania metal base

I use a pair of Sylvania metal base in my Wright Sound preamp. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #20 of 334
9/17/03 at 7:08pm
Is there a signficant difference bewteen tubes that would work well in a Supra versus an MPX3? Would the sound characteristics of the tubes be the same?
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post #21 of 334
9/18/03 at 3:26am
Good question shafu, been thinking along those lines myself. FCJ seems to love the VT-231's in his MPX3. Supra owners the same; so I guess the inference may be that that's the tube set to have and that there is a commonality there
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post #22 of 334
9/18/03 at 3:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by shafu
Is there a signficant difference bewteen tubes that would work well in a Supra versus an MPX3? Would the sound characteristics of the tubes be the same?
All of Mikhail's amps are designed to get out of the tube's way. The MPX-3 and Supra have differing power parameters, but they share a similar design concept. What you hear in either amp is determined by the tube, not the amp. The MPX3 is tilted slightly toward greater dynamics, while the Supra is tilted toward maximum detail retrieval. The higher plate voltage of the MPX3 might allow some different tubes to be used, such as 5692's which simply won't work in the Supra. However, the sonic signature of the tubes should be the same in either amp. The Sylvania's in a friend's MPX3 sound very similar to the same tubes in my Supra.
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post #23 of 334
9/19/03 at 4:40am
Anyone know how long the tubes usually last??
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post #24 of 334
9/19/03 at 9:41am
Just got a trio of Hytrons to try in my MPX3!
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post #25 of 334
9/19/03 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Habib
Anyone know how long the tubes usually last??
The amps run well within the operating capabilities of the tube, and don't push it hard, so there's no way to really know. Tubes can last a long time if treated gently by equipment. Even pushed hard, I'd expect a couple of years out of them, but Mikhail's amps don't push them hard, so who knows? Maybe five to ten years. Possibly less. Maybe more.
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post #26 of 334
9/19/03 at 1:37pm
Wow, I know it's a ball park number but 5-10 years? If that's the case I can spend more money rolling than worrying about securing spares for my favorite tubes.

How about leaving it on all the time or turning it on off all the time? Will that kind of abuse "significantly" shorten the live of the tubes? Because if we are even throwing the 5 year number around, I will probably just leave mine on.

Anyone have any experience with Raytheon, Tungsol, and RCA? The Tungsol seems to be well regarded but I have yet to hear anything about them for the Singlepower amps. So far all the rave is about the Sylvania and Ken Rad.

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post #27 of 334
9/19/03 at 1:42pm
From Cary Audio regarding tube life and power on/off...

Click here
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post #28 of 334
9/19/03 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 
It depends on load. Berning estimates that if a MicroZOTL is used a couple of hours daily, the tubes should last ten to twenty years...but he drives the tubes lightly. I believe Mikhail does also, which could extend life beyond the rating, which applies to tubes pushed at their full capacity.

Habib, my opinion of one of the Raytheon variants is above. I've got another one, but haven't tried it yet. I've used RCA, but need to hear it some more before making up my mind. It's a nice tube, but so far it falls short of the Ken-Rads or Sylvanias. Still, I need to try a different set of them to confirm.
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post #29 of 334
9/21/03 at 2:18pm
Here is the response from Mikhail

Tubes differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. NOS tubes
that were made prior to 1955 are known to run longer than
newer tubes, but I've found that the Electro-Harmonix tubes
that we ship with are very tough and will most likely last a
very long time.

Expect NOS tubes to last 5+ year on average. That's about
5000+ hours if the tubes are new to begin with. This is also
excluding any tubes that are defective to begin with.

The Electro-Harmonix tubes should last many years as well. I
haven't had any go bad yet. These seem very good in terms of
manufacturing and are high quality. They are rated to last
5000+ hours, but I would expect somewhere between 2000 -
10,000 hours in our amps.

In addition we run the power on the tubes at about 1/3 of the
maximum rating on these tube types. So the limiting factor
for life of the tubes will be the heater life. Some people
have never had to replace 6SN7 tubes in their amps that have
lasted over 10 years. This is from data collected on
preamplifiers from other manufacturers.

So, tube life is really not an issue if you get a good set of
tubes to begin with. Also, make sure you turn the amplifier
off after you finish listening for the day. There's no
reason to keep it on unless you plan on listening. Turn it
on some time before you start listening and then off after
you decide your done for the day.
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post #30 of 334
9/23/03 at 5:43am
Are the CBS-Hytron tubes made by Sylvania as the internal construction looks almost identical?
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