[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperDuke /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do the Raptor lovers hear any hum at all. My GLow Audio One Amp was reviewd by 6moons as a dead silent amp but I find it has a hum (only audible w/ phones). Maybe OTL is the way to go.

Mine had a hum when I got it. It was a bad tube. I would swap out a tube and see how it goes. 99 percent of the time an amp will come with the cheapest tubes they can find, especially a Chinese amp. Find something European or American (Tubes) and see how that works. Chinese tubes suck. You can star by swapping the 2 different sets of tubes from side to side one pair at a time and that will tell you if it is a tube and which one it is.

6BQ5 = EL84 Pentode; 7189/A (substitute) www.TubeWorld.com
Tube World probably stocks the widest selection of the best sounding EL84/6BQ5 ever made:
Amperex, Bugle Boy Holland, Brimar England, Super Radiotron Australia, Philips Holland, Telefunken West Germany, Tungsol, Mullard England, Siemens West Germany, RCA, Sylvania, GE

6N3P-E is a long life (~ 5000 hours) double triode vacuum tube used as a wideband HF power amp, oscillator and DIY preamps. These military grade quality tubes are equivalent to 2C51, 6385, 6CC42, ECC42 and 5670.

BEST IN STOCK:
396A=2C51 Western Electric, listed on Western Electric pages
5670 Tungsol
5670 Raytheon
5670 LM Ericsson Sweden 1950's
5670 RCA
5670 Sylvania
5670 GE

For the best prices eBay is your best bet, but TubeWorld is great for reading up on the tubes.

 

[soulrider4ever]

Wow, good read, thanks for the heads up, I'm a newbie to hifi and I've never heard tubes EVER! doh!

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulrider4ever /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, good read, thanks for the heads up, I'm a newbie to hifi and I've never heard tubes EVER! doh!

Once you realize changing a tube can make your amp go from sounding like 50 bucks to thousands it becomes an obsession, especially if your amp has more than one type of tube and has lots of different tubes available.

I finally settled on a Siemens E82CC triple mica and 2 RCA 5687 black plate mofo's. Now Im ditching a lot of experiment tubes and I have dupe's of the ones I like.

 

[SuperDuke]

Thanks Olblueyez! I switched tubes w/ no effect so I'll check out tubeworld.

The Glow Audio is a pretty good sounding amp (the part w/o the hum) and it would be nice to have it humless.

Back to the Raptor though- I hope to end up finding a used black one. Ray has no black chassis in stock and the wait is several months.

 

[s1rrah]

I'll be getting a used Raptor in the next week or two that will be coming with some extra tubes.

Can any experienced Raptor folk give me a quick rundown on what each of these tubes might be good at?

Are any of them decent Raptor tubes?

Here goes:

2 Tungsol 5687s,
1 GE 12BH7A,
1 RCA black plated 12BH7A,
2 RCA bronze plated 5867s,
2 of gold pin 5963s, and
2 of Amperex 7316 Bugle Boy

Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll be getting a used Raptor in the next week or two that will be coming with some extra tubes. Can any experienced Raptor folk give me a quick rundown on what each of these tubes might be good at? Are any of them decent Raptor tubes? Here goes: 2 Tungsol 5687s, <~~Extremely punchy, not my favorite, adds too much color and ruins the sound of the gain tubes. Not impossible to match up, just not easy to find a good matching gain tube. 1 GE 12BH7A, <~~I have not used a GE but it seems like most of them are rebranded RCA or Tungsol. The RCA is the thickest most rolled off tubey tube you can get. The Tungsol has tons of bass weight and brighter highs, Tungsol works better in this amp but neither is going to be "The Tube". 1 RCA black plated 12BH7A, <~~See above, also, RCA's have a ladder patter on the anodes and tungsols only have horizontal lines on the anodes. 2 RCA bronze plated 5867s, <~~Very nice driver tubes, synergize well with just about any gain tube you can put in that rear socket. Very dynamic but not much color to interfere with the sound of the gain tube. Best drivers you can get for the Raptor IMO. Black plates are the same, I cant tell the difference. 2 of gold pin 5963s, and <~~If you have a brighter headphone or silver cables or you just want a warmer signature in general you will love this tube. It is probably my second favorite gain tube. 2 of Amperex 7316 Bugle Boy <~~7316 presents its self like a very expensive solid state (in a good way) its very balanced, never harsh or bright, and very 3 dementional, very nice tube, better sound stage than the 5963 GB. Thanks in advance for any comments.

I highly recommend a Siemens E82CC or Siemens 5814A to go with your Bronze RCA 5687's. The Siemens is the best tube unless you want to spend a fortune on the ECC802 Telefunkens.

Let me know if you have any questions, I love shootin the breeze about tubes.

 

[s1rrah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif I highly recommend a Siemens E82CC or Siemens 5814A to go with your Bronze RCA 5687's. The Siemens is the best tube unless you want to spend a fortune on the ECC802 Telefunkens. Let me know if you have any questions, I love shootin the breeze about tubes.

Thanks for the tips.

Glad to hear about the gold pin 5963 tubes as these might be the ones that work best with my GS1000's ...

Will post some impressions once able.

Best.
.joel

 

[s1rrah]

...

So as discussed with blueeyez a bit already ...

I got my used Raptor (fully upgraded) last Tuesday ...

First thing I have to say is I cannot believe folks say this amp is not very responsive to tube rolling! I'm finding it to be quite dramatically responsive, actually.

My first set of tubes that I tried were:

Driver Tubes = Tung-Sol 5687
Gain Tube = Sylvania Gold Pin 5963

I found this to be far too flabby on the bass ... just didn't work with my GS1000's which already have a pretty big bass image. Things sounded decent and all ... not horrid ... but I wanted more control of the bass.

So then I tried:

Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687
Gain Tube = Amperex 7316 Bugle Boy

And this was WAAAAAY better for me. Nice and taut bass, great high frequencies and soundstage that was downright uncanny. Very nice setup.

But as of today ... after several more tests, including the stock tube config, I've decided that, for now anyway ... the sweet spot is this:

Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687
Gain Tube = Sylvannia Gold pin 5963

Same nice tight bass ... same fantastic soundstage but with just a bit sweeter highs ...

The GS1000's really sync with this last config.

Also applied a bit of Walkers SST to the tube pins and in certain Norbert Brainin Cello/chamber bits I've been listening too ... the 3D imaging and sound stage is freakishly amazing.

Anyway ... more later ... I'm going to be ordering a Siemens 5814A for the rear gain socket in the next week or so and will post some impressions of that once I have it.

 

[vic1890]

Oh Sirrah! I', glad you got the raptor - I'm waiting to pick mine up in July. Will be using the Paradisea with it, and was thinking of getting the GS1000 as well - I'll keep a close eye on how you think the sound compares to your stello


Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... So as discussed with blueeyez a bit already ... I got my used Raptor (fully upgraded) last Tuesday ... First thing I have to say is I cannot believe folks say this amp is not very responsive to tube rolling! I'm finding it to be quite dramatically responsive, actually. My first set of tubes that I tried were: Driver Tubes = Tung-Sol 5687 Gain Tube = Sylvania Gold Pin 5963 I found this to be far too flabby on the bass ... just didn't work with my GS1000's which already have a pretty big bass image. Things sounded decent and all ... not horrid ... but I wanted more control of the bass. So then I tried: Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Gain Tube = Amperex 7316 Bugle Boy And this was WAAAAAY better for me. Nice and taut bass, great high frequencies and soundstage that was downright uncanny. Very nice setup. But as of today ... after several more tests, including the stock tube config, I've decided that, for now anyway ... the sweet spot is this: Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Gain Tube = Sylvannia Gold pin 5963 Same nice tight bass ... same fantastic soundstage but with just a bit sweeter highs ... The GS1000's really sync with this last config. Also applied a bit of Walkers SST to the tube pins and in certain Norbert Brainin Cello/chamber bits I've been listening too ... the 3D imaging and sound stage is freakishly amazing. Anyway ... more later ... I'm going to be ordering a Siemens 5814A for the rear gain socket in the next week or so and will post some impressions of that once I have it.

 

[WittyzTH]

Joel, I'm glad you enjoy it.

I'm kinda basshead person, so the first combo was my fav.

 

[shellylh]

Joel: very sweet looking setup. I hope you keep the raptor long enough for me to try it out!

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... So as discussed with blueeyez a bit already ... I got my used Raptor (fully upgraded) last Tuesday ... First thing I have to say is I cannot believe folks say this amp is not very responsive to tube rolling! I'm finding it to be quite dramatically responsive, actually. My first set of tubes that I tried were: Driver Tubes = Tung-Sol 5687 Gain Tube = Sylvania Gold Pin 5963 I found this to be far too flabby on the bass ... just didn't work with my GS1000's which already have a pretty big bass image. Things sounded decent and all ... not horrid ... but I wanted more control of the bass. So then I tried: Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Gain Tube = Amperex 7316 Bugle Boy And this was WAAAAAY better for me. Nice and taut bass, great high frequencies and soundstage that was downright uncanny. Very nice setup. But as of today ... after several more tests, including the stock tube config, I've decided that, for now anyway ... the sweet spot is this: Driver Tubes = RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Gain Tube = Sylvannia Gold pin 5963 Same nice tight bass ... same fantastic soundstage but with just a bit sweeter highs ... The GS1000's really sync with this last config. Also applied a bit of Walkers SST to the tube pins and in certain Norbert Brainin Cello/chamber bits I've been listening too ... the 3D imaging and sound stage is freakishly amazing. Anyway ... more later ... I'm going to be ordering a Siemens 5814A for the rear gain socket in the next week or so and will post some impressions of that once I have it.

 

[s1rrah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shellylh /img/forum/go_quote.gif Joel: very sweet looking setup. I hope you keep the raptor long enough for me to try it out!

I set my alarm for 5am this morning so I could keep listening for an hour or so before work.

True story.

Loving the amp.

Poor little Stello ... trooper though it may be ... is going to be in the For Sale section soon.

LOL.

Just love the organic and silky tone the tubes lend things.

 

[s1rrah]

Question for Raptor afficianados (couple, really):

1. How long can I listen before giving the amp a break? I've heard various limits of 8 to 10 hours with Woo amps and I'm curious if the Raptor is different in that regard due to it's solid state power supply?

2. Also something I've heard regarding Woo amps is that it's bad to run them without an audio signal being pass to them. Is this the case with the Raptor or is okay to have it turned on without music playing?

Thanks for any comments.

 

[Ray Samuels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah /img/forum/go_quote.gif Question for Raptor afficianados (couple, really): 1. How long can I listen before giving the amp a break? I've heard various limits of 8 to 10 hours with Woo amps and I'm curious if the Raptor is different in that regard due to it's solid state power supply? 2. Also something I've heard regarding Woo amps is that it's bad to run them without an audio signal being pass to them. Is this the case with the Raptor or is okay to have it turned on without music playing? Thanks for any comments.

You can leave the Raptor on day & night with no problem.
Don't set the amp section on the power supply.
The Raptor is OTL design you can't harm the amp by not having any load connected to it.
No harm is done if no signal is present at inputs at all.
Ray Samuels

 

[s1rrah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Samuels /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can leave the Raptor on day & night with no problem. Don't set the amp section on the power supply. The Raptor is OTL design you can't harm the amp by not having any load connected to it. No harm is done if no signal is present at inputs at all. Ray Samuels

Great! So please just ignore my email.

I fell asleep at my desk and woke up seeing the tubes all lit up and sort of freaked.

BTW, Ray ... while I've got your attention (maybe) ...

Have you ever heard of anyone using this particular/rare Telefunken Tube as a gain tube for the Raptor?

Telefunken "G-73R" Selected ECC82 12AU7 ECC802S

...

...

I was considering picking them up but thought I'd seek some assist first.

I know the Siemens variety of 12AU7's are good but have you heard anything about something like the above?

Thanks in advance.
.joel