[joeq70]

I ended up pairing my Aune with Matrix M-Stage. It's great.

Now thinking to replace my stock 6922EH.
Genalex Gold Lion or Mullard ECC88?

I prefer the Genalex Gold Lion myself. I have not heard a Mullard yet, though.

 

[SirMarc]

I prefer the Genalex Gold Lion myself. I have not heard a Mullard yet, though.

Have you tried an amperex 7308 yet?

 

[NCSUZoSo]

Don't we need to know which headphones they are running before telling them which tube is "best" though?
 
Haha I just thought about that after I wrote all the info I did.
 
I just don't think most people are going to prefer a Gold Lion over an equally priced NOS tube that matches their setup.  Even with very colored headphones a Siemens 6922 is very neutral and mildly bright, yet retains the entire frequency spectrum better than any other tube I have rolled.  I haven't heard another tube do so well with jazz/classical as it does with classic rock and even rap music.  Most tubes seem to be one trick ponies to me from my list on the last page, either great with music or movies or gaming, etc.  The Siemens 6922 is what I use (or want to) for everything, but during long gaming session I'll replace it with a GE Smokie so I don't put hours on the Siemens with something I don't really care THAT much about the audio on (I do care, just not critical listening).  Another thing is sooo many people keep recommending the Amperex 7308, while that is a great tube, I don't think it's worth the price.  Most of the time they are more expensive than a perfectly balanced Siemens 6922 (which everyone has also seen recommended a lot, by myself and others).
 
A member named Coil who used to be one of the biggest contributors of this thread (he still reads this and will PM you if he thinks he can help) told me he owns five Siemens 6922 tubes.  He has the identical capacitor upgrades to the T1 as me and he even bothered to put a CMC gold plated OFC ceramic socket in the T1, something I have thought about doing.  He owns over 70 tubes and 8 headphones and yet his favorite overall is the Siemens 6922/E88CC (gold pins/grey shield) just like the one I posted at the bottom of the last page.  I'm not saying it's the perfect tube for everyone, but there is a reason these tubes fetch well over $100 and going into the $300-$400 range for CCa Siemens on places like TubeMonger.
 
I recommend anyone who hasn't read this, to read it: http://www.audiotubes.com/6dj8.htm
 
For example regarding the RCA Siemens tube I posted one page back I just randomly read this: "RCA 6922 tubes were made by Siemens in Germany, and also have gold pins. These are great tubes, but are not as plentiful."
 
If you want to know about NOS 6922/E88CC/6DJ8/ECC88/E188CC/7308/lol tubes, that is a great read and I used to have more like it.  I'll post them if I can dig them back up, or you can search through 443 pages of this thread, haha.

 

[joeq70]

Have you tried an amperex 7308 yet?

Yep, it was warm and holographic, but not as punchy sounding as my other tubes. Great tube, but not for me.

 

[SirMarc]

Yep, it was warm and holographic, but not as punchy sounding as my other tubes. Great tube, but not for me.

I enjoy the gold lion also with dark recordings, and pop it in whenever I listen through my speakers, but the synergy of the 7308, Asgard 2 and my hd580's with a well produced album is pretty awesome

 

[NCSUZoSo]

WOW, I can't believe this guy just accepted my offer.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321639510651
 
That is a Siemens 6922 CCa "Pinched Waist" tube, they are EXTREMELY rare.  Not only to be a CCa, but a pinched waist one and yes the test results on it are not great (76/60), but I grabbed it up for $65...
 
For $65 that is a hell of a deal just to put that in a case on my shelf.
 
I can't wait to hear how this sounds compared to my current Siemens 6922 (gold pins/silver shields).
 
Here is a picture, it's not immediately obvious, but if you look at it closely you can see the glass comes in where the metal elements are and this is one of the highly sought after tubes where the glass touches the metal.
 

 
 
 
I'm so excited about this tube.  Haha I actually posted it earlier and then immediately removed it when I saw it was a pinched waist CCa.
 
 
 
From http://www.audiotubes.com/6dj8.htm:
 

Also rare are the "pinched waist" versions of this tube. This is actually a molding flaw which made the glass bottom slightly fatter around the outside than the rest of the tube, and the center of the tube actually dips inward and touches the metal elements inside. Clients report these are incredible sounding tubes, and the upward spiral of prices for the rare pinch waist types seem to bear this out.

 

[mikoss]

  WOW, I can't believe this guy just accepted my offer.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321639510651
 
That is a Siemens 6922 CCa "Pinched Waist" tube, they are EXTREMELY rare.  Not only to be a CCa, but a pinched waist one and yes the test results on it are not great (76/60), but I grabbed it up for $65...
 

 
 
 
I'm so excited about this tube.  Haha I actually posted it earlier and then immediately removed it when I saw it was a pinched waist CCa.
 
 
 

Nice score! Is your other tube a grey shield, or silver as well? I've heard the grey's sound better, but I have no idea since I've never heard a CCa myself. Waiting your impressions...
 
Also, appreciate all of your posts on the Siemens tubes... they really are excellent!

 

[NCSUZoSo]

My other is also silver and yes I've heard the greys are better too.  However I think a "plain jane" Siemens with grey shield would probably lose to CCa pinched waist
 

 
BTW, this tube on the way was made in the same location as mine, Wiener Radio Werkes Germany.  However this one is from May 1970 where mine is from May 1966.
 
 
It's going to be audio Christmas when that tube gets here along with my Magni 2.

 

[mikoss]

Awesome posts @NCSUZoSo Love the Siemens tubes as well!
 
Here are some pics of a NOS Miniwatt I found by calling a bunch of tube stores in the USA. This was from www.vacuumtubes.net and the last one they had... I highly recommend them as the owner is extremely knowledgeable, and their tubes are very well priced. I'll see how it sounds in the next while.

 

 

 
 
VR5 production code, 15L week code printed on top, and delta2D1. Heerlen started producing in '57 I believe, so if '57/'58 was VR0, your year code and date code should basically count up each year, which makes sense.
 
If you look at Valvo 7308 tubes, you may notice the VR and other batch codes started at a different year, but frustratingly enough, were copies of the same batch codes Amperex/ Philips used.
I'll try and explain, using an eBay conversation I had with a great seller, jbirck:
 
 
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/161570910216 - Valvo made tubes, not rebranded... made in the Hamburg plant with A-Frame supports, 7L3 batch codes and D6E2 date codes... NOT Hollands, D = Hamburg. These were made in the Hamburg factory by Valvo (which was Philips in Germany, I believe).
 
Compare them to Holland tubes with 7L5 and 7L6 batch codes, and 1960 and 1961 date codes:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMPEREX-HOLLAND-E88CC-6922-ONE-PAIR-/161561676468?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item259dd38ab4
 
 
Notice that 7L5 and 7L6 from the Holland plant correspond to 1960 and 1961, yet 7L3 at the Hamburg plant corresponds to 1966 (or possibly even 1976, which I don't believe... I would be very surprised if Hamburg wasn't making tubes in the 60's).
 
So the A-Frame supported tubes with D factory codes are definitely not Hollands, and I think they were made in the actual Hamburg plant... they started their batch codes later (possibly in '63 as opposed to Holland in maybe '57 or '58). So a 7L0 from Holland would be 1957/58 or so, yet a 7L0 from Hamburg would be 1962/63 or so...
 
 
ps. I bought the Hamburg tubes from '66 with A-frame supports... I'll let you guys know how Hamburg tubes sound once I get them. Hoping they sound different from Hollands... possibly more like Siemens tubes

 

[Rozenberg]

   
Siemens 6922.  Besides my Siemens I have an Amperex 6922, GE Smokie ECC88, JAN Philips 6922, and Tesla 6922.  My Siemens 6922 (possible CCa) wins hands down, no question.  For gaming however I run my GE Smokie because it seems stupid running an $85 tube for gaming.
 
Here is a good deal on a RCA labeled gold pin Siemens 6922.  You can find out who actually made it by the codes on the metal frame inside the tubes (RCA didn't produce tubes in Germany).  For example I have an Amperex 6922 that is a labeled RCA and it was made in West Germany.  It may not be as cool as it saying Siemens, but you can't beat that price or the quality of that type of year from Siemens.  I did see these also, which are Siemens labeled and the tests are very very good for $50, but you don't know which out of the 4 tubes you are getting.  I would assume you can select which one when you buy since he has 3 left.  I'd say that is also worth checking into, maybe even more than the RCA labeled one.  There are a lot of good deals on Ebay and I have only purchased NOS tubes from Ebay with not a single problem.  If the seller has good feedback on selling tubes and they list the equipment (or picture of tube during testing is even better, but cost more), you normally have nothing to worry about and the EBay 14 day return applies to them still.
 
$53.50 shipped if you do buy it now, but I bet he would take $40-$45.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Siemens-6922-6DJ8-Gold-Pins-Wide-Getter-Support-A49G-94-89-TV-7-/321639510654?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae335727e
 
 
It's not perfect, but a perfectly balanced Siemens 6922 like the one I have runs between $85-$200 depending on the seller.  However some days you may see one for $50 that is almost perfectly balanced, but it is very rare someone with the equipment and knowledge would price it that low as these tubes are very sought after.
 
 
Just for example here is a pair of Siemens 6922 labeled RCAs for $400:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-new-tubes-Siemens-RCA-6922-Gold-pins-factory-matched-NOS-NIB-Germany-1960s-/121373360670?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c426a821e

 
The only Siemens 6922 I could find locally are the CCa and they go like almost 300€
Importing from US, aye..... I'm not really sure 
But if I could get it for $40 then maybe not so bad. Only takes long to arrive.
Maybe I'll purchase them a bit later, but between the 1969 Siemens 6922 and the Halske, do they differ much?
 
 

I prefer the Genalex Gold Lion myself. I have not heard a Mullard yet, though.

I'd want to try the Gold Lion. Could get it for 44€ here.
Hoping it would sound different from the stock 6922EH because my 6N23P-EV didn't make any improvement over the stock.

 

[NCSUZoSo]

   
The only Siemens 6922 I could find locally are the CCa and they go like almost 300€
Importing from US, aye..... I'm not really sure 
But if I could get it for $40 then maybe not so bad. Only takes long to arrive.
Maybe I'll purchase them a bit later, but between the 1969 Siemens 6922 and the Halske, do they differ much?
 
 
I'd want to try the Gold Lion. Could get it for 44€ here.
Hoping it would sound different from the stock 6922EH because my 6N23P-EV didn't make any improvement over the stock.

 
 
Siemens is Halske when it comes to tubes (Siemens & Halske), so no they shouldn't differ at all.

 

[thinkpol]

Hey guys, I just picked up a pair of HD650s and the T1 Mk2 =) Any thoughts on these tubes:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-6DJ8-ECC88-SMOKIE-VACUUM-TUBE-1970s-SINGLE-FOIL-O-GTR-SUPER-SWEET-TONE-G18A-/321655861317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae42ef045
 
Good deal? What kind of sound will they have?

 

[chowmein83]

  Hey guys, I just picked up a pair of HD650s and the T1 Mk2 =) Any thoughts on these tubes:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-6DJ8-ECC88-SMOKIE-VACUUM-TUBE-1970s-SINGLE-FOIL-O-GTR-SUPER-SWEET-TONE-G18A-/321655861317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae42ef045
 
Good deal? What kind of sound will they have?

 
I can't comment exactly on the tubes you're going to get, but I have heard the HD650 with the T1 mk1 and Amperex Orange Globes, and they sounded good. With my tubes, the whole combination was definitely on the warmer side. But the T1 to me seemed to have enough power to drive the HD650s well.

 

[mikoss]

Hey guys, I just picked up a pair of HD650s and the T1 Mk2 =) Any thoughts on these tubes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-6DJ8-ECC88-SMOKIE-VACUUM-TUBE-1970s-SINGLE-FOIL-O-GTR-SUPER-SWEET-TONE-G18A-/321655861317?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae42ef045

Good deal? What kind of sound will they have?

To my ears, they sound fairly laid back and fairly neutral... I'd say there's an emphasis towards the lower midrange/ bass although I find it a bit loose for my taste. I also find the higher end seems to be less emphasized and perhaps rolled off.

These tubes have received glowing reviews in this thread from at least a couple of people. Not sure if they're using the HD-650s with them, but I am.

Not sure what you're looking for as far as sound goes, but I would say they're probably more accurate sounding than a lot of the tubes in the same price range. As for gelling with the 650s, I personally prefer tubes with a bit more detail... A cheap recommendation would be the Amperex OG's chowmein suggested (the midrange sounds very lush paired with the 650s), or Philips Jan 6922 whichshould be the same price as the GE Smokeys.

Just my opinion... I'm sure you'll enjoy them either way, and they're cheap.

 

[NCSUZoSo]

The price vs. performance for someone who is a new NOS tube buyer, a GE Smokie ECC88 is definitely the way to go.  An all around great tube for the money,  I really don't know what else I would recommend at the ~$20 price point (or below)
 
It's actually my go to tube for gaming sessions when I don't want to use my Siemens 6922.
 
 
 
This is Ebay seller Greengirl613 who I have bought almost all of my high end tubes from for my Fender Blues Jr. and she/they have never let me down. 
 
$23.99 Shipped.
 

Tested on a Hickok 6000A  Micromhos --  Results = 8000/7500

 
 
There are definitely cheaper GE Smokies out there, but this is definitely a good option.
 
 
I have purchased from this seller also offering GE Smokies for $12.99 Shipped, he says they are testing 100%/100%.
 

 I PERSONALLY purchase, clean, identify, test, and stand behind every tube on this site. I have a small company. You will deal with me personally.

 
 
(I have no connection to the sellers of these ads besides experience buying from them or just randomly coming across their ads to help people)