[nelamvr6]

Quote:

Man Why is Siemens CCa stupid expensive!!!!!  AHhhh

 
Supply and demand...

 

[gmahler2u]

Check this deal....is this fake or real?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-matched-Pair-Premium-Amperex-PQ-6688-E180F-Tubes-gold-pin-square-getter-USA-/350730491514?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item51a92a967a

 

[toschek]

Lorenz SEL PCC88 tubes are good for the money, there is an eBay seller who has them regularly at around $50/pair plus shipping. Tungsram ECC88s are nice too and can be found in pairs under $100, and finally keep an eye out for Brimar/Mullard CV2492s which you can find for under $100/pair if you are persistent.

 

[rdaneel]

Quote:

Lorenz SEL PCC88 tubes are good for the money, there is an eBay seller who has them regularly at around $50/pair plus shipping. Tungsram ECC88s are nice too and can be found in pairs under $100, and finally keep an eye out for Brimar/Mullard CV2492s which you can find for under $100/pair if you are persistent.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[rdaneel]

The Lyr I picked up came with three pairs of tubes, none of which I expect to be that good.  Still, I'm curious if folks have experience with these:
 
Sovtek 6922 (appears to have an 01 02 date code)
Electro-Harmonix 6922 EH (appears to have an 04 12 date code)
GE JAN-6BQ7A (these were once sold as the standard tubes by Schiit?)
 
The Sovtek and E-H look identical, and I believe E-H is simply the new name for the same company.  If so, I would expect these would sound the same, and there is no need to break them both in to get a sense of the sound.
 
Of the lot, I think the GEs may be the best, though that may not be saying much.  Maybe I'll have to try some of Olga's Lorenz PCC88s...  I want to give the Lyr a fair shot against the Burson Soloist SL.

 

[toschek]

Quote:

Thank you for the advice!

 
Correction on that, the Tungsram 6922/E88CC not ECC88
 
Good luck to you!

 

[gmahler2u]

Quote:

Lorenz SEL PCC88 tubes are good for the money, there is an eBay seller who has them regularly at around $50/pair plus shipping. Tungsram ECC88s are nice too and can be found in pairs under $100, and finally keep an eye out for Brimar/Mullard CV2492s which you can find for under $100/pair if you are persistent.

is this it?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Matched-Pair-of-1950s-Mullard-E88CC-Valves-Tubes-6922-CV2492-/330881789972?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Valves_Vacuum_Tubes&hash=item4d0a177014

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

The Lyr I picked up came with three pairs of tubes, none of which I expect to be that good.  Still, I'm curious if folks have experience with these:
 
Sovtek 6922 (appears to have an 01 02 date code)
Electro-Harmonix 6922 EH (appears to have an 04 12 date code)
GE JAN-6BQ7A (these were once sold as the standard tubes by Schiit?)
 
The Sovtek and E-H look identical, and I believe E-H is simply the new name for the same company.  If so, I would expect these would sound the same, and there is no need to break them both in to get a sense of the sound.
 
Of the lot, I think the GEs may be the best, though that may not be saying much.  Maybe I'll have to try some of Olga's Lorenz PCC88s...  I want to give the Lyr a fair shot against the Burson Soloist SL.

 
 
I'm pretty sure those EHs are made by Sovtek.  That's not at all uncommon.  Skim through this thread and you'll find lots of instances where one company is making tubes that will eventually wear another company's brand.
 
Give them a shot, maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised...

 

[toschek]

I am not sure those are the Mullards I am thinking of, that looks like a lot of search bait word salad on the eBay listing.   For all I know those might be awesome though!
 
The ones I am thinking of look like this:
 

 
The ones I have are Brimars and they are fuller in both the bass and mids than the Mullards I have tried.
 
They look like this (note the [KB/AD] on these and the [KB/D] on the ones above):
 

 

[ilikepooters]

Got my first load of tubes today, not had time to try them all yet, but i must say, i have some OTK (?) 6N1P's and they sound amazing with my HE5-LE's.
 
Never heard mids like it before, the sibilance is gone, treble is less fatiguing, and the soundstage is huuuge.
 
I got some RCA tubes to try out tomorrow, 6BZ7/6BQ7A or something.

 

[Sniperbombers]

Quote:

Got my first load of tubes today, not had time to try them all yet, but i must say, i have some RTK (?) 6N1P's and they sound amazing with my HE5-LE's.
 
Never heard mids like it before, the sibilance is gone, treble is less fatiguing, and the soundstage is huuuge.
 
I got some RCA tubes to try out tomorrow, 6BZ7/6BQ7A or something.

are you talking about an ordering from surplussales.com?

 

[ilikepooters]

Don't know where they came from originally, but i bought them from a seller on here.

 

[audioengr]

Can anyone break down the CCA thing for me? If I understand right its a marker for 'low noise'. Now we're talking about low noise in relation to the gain curve, as opposed to noise floor correct? There is this and military spec versions which I assume are just simply more rugged builds, designed initially to















take more physical abuse in their respective environment. I grabbed a pair of non-cca Simmens which were much cheaper, but effectively German DOD grade (BWB). At this point I'm basically taste testing different makes trying to find out what I like, so I went with a buy now $100 pair. All I have to do is break them in to see if they were worth the purchase. The boxes and internal structure so far as I can tell are definitely the real deal - ie the internal date stamps can't be replicated
There's another pair up for grabs here: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/281066852578?



ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
I think the $20 shipping was worth it. 4days from Germany.

The CCA versions of this tube are crazy expensive. Not as much as a pair of E188CC Telefunkens mind you. My question I guess is this... are the ones I picked up going to give me a good idea of what the CCA versions are like? Or are they completely different beasts?












A swap program would be nice. Trust is a problem though. Yikes. I can't imagine having to give up your borrowed dream tubes.

I have tried the standard Siemens E88CC, the CCA and the CCA grey-plates. There is no contest, the grey plates win. The non-grey plates are quite good however and a lot cheaper. The British tubes, Amperex PQ and Philips are not even in the same league.

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

I have tried the standard Siemens E88CC, the CCA and the CCA grey-plates. There is no contest, the grey plates win. The non-grey plates are quite good however and a lot cheaper. The British tubes, Amperex PQ and Philips are not even in the same league.

 
 
If the Amperex PQ are not even in the same league, I am well and truly screwed!  Because these USN-CEPs are sounding so schweet right now!  Not even in the same league?  Are you sure you're not employing hyperbole?
 
I don't want to pay $500 for a pair of CCa gray plates.
 
Well, that's the nature of the hobby I guess, that final 1% is the most expensive...

 

[toschek]

... and then you start looking at speakers.