Amstrans will tell you to contact AirTight, however the link has no e-mail address, so you'd have to call them in Japan! With the yen rate getting better, it's curious to see what AirTight wants for them.

Has anybody seen or heard of USAF-596 tubes made by MU Inc.? As far as I know, United is the only brand associated with them.

Just bought some Kenrad black glass VT-231. They sound fine, but if you pause the CD or between discs, when you tap gently on the base or glass, you can hear the faint tapping on the speakers. One tube is slightly louder than the other. Is this normal as I heard these tubes tend to be...

What kind of lifespan can one expect from these pricey, rare 6SN7 variants such as Bad Boys or Tungsol round plates? I mean you are paying $150-600/pair and if you run them every day do they crap out in 2-3 years? I've heard of a 10,000 hr military rating but I don't think they will live...

Quote:  Anybody know how much a TSRP with a cracked base should be discounted? Say you bought the tube for $200 and the seller missed the crack. How much of a refund should I ask for? I'm testing the tube now; the bulb is firm, and it sounds fine. It's a fairly rare round mica so I want to...

I have a question on the Tungsol 6SN7GT round plate: is it bad to run one oval and one round mica even though the tubes are well matched?   I was reading some thread on the web - or maybe it was a tube vendor's web site - where they recommended mixing different brands of 6SN7 tubes to...

  Did you see the pair of NOS WE300Bs that were sold on Ebay a couple of weeks ago? Going rates for these now are maybe $3-5K for a set that tests pretty good. If you think that's bad, this pair went for $10,000!!! Because it tested as almost new. The seller had a second pair that went for...

  I think what Jack means is that probably all the panels for their amps are built via CNC machining, which is computer controlled. This is done by the machine shop they contract with (from the looks of my WA5SE, it's a good one). If they do a mod or customization where they have to put a hole...

Quote:  I might add that the Headphonia review said the WA5 isn't alone in this respect; that a couple of highly regarded tube amps don't excel with orthos. They mentioned the Manley 300B, Zana Deux, and Minute 45. I would think the Cary 300 SEI might also fall in that category. Not bad...

Quote:  The WA5SE is the acronym for the all out version: the WA5 Special Edition with all the upgrades from Woo (Blackgates, V-Caps, etc.). It's quite disconcerting to spend such $$$$ on a killer amp with power to run any headphone in existence, but Headphonia (and some other sources)...

To those of you who use an LCD-2, HE-6, and AKG K-1000 with a WA5, what have you to say about the numerous Headphonia reviews which say the LCD and HE-6 doesn't sound that good on the WA5? And there is one very recent review slamming the AKG K-1000 pretty bad no matter what the amp, and they...

Any comment on the recent Headphonia review of the WA5SE, which stated the HE-6 doesn't sound very good on this amp. The reviewer did go on to say that the headphones, and orthodynamic headphones in general, don't sound that good on the Zana Deux, Manley 300B, and the Apex either (I think I got...

So Blackgates were made by Rubicon, huh? Commonly found on good computer motherboards - and in my Toshiba HDD recorders, as they spared nothing in the manufacture. Yeah I heard Blackgates are no longer available so just limited to supply on hand. Either Jack had a stash or he knew some supplier...

Quote: Jack is still offering the Blackgates for - what else? The WA5. I guess stock is getting low. Which is why I pulled the trigger on a WA5SE now. He will be using different caps for his new monoblock amp.