[magiccabbage]

I see many U52's on Eslay... What are the best brand names to hunt?

link please

 

[snapontom]

This is one of my favorite threads, along with the "show a pic of your turntable thread".   It is Sunday morning here in AZ and cool.  I have a dedicated line of electricity to my system. There must be ample power in the grid today. My soundstage is up on the back wall, and the imaging is swell.  I am listening to live recordings from the Village Vanguard, Bill Evans on the piano.  Thought I heard the ice in a glass at one point.  The USAF 596 doesn't disappoint in the Taboo MKII and CSP2+, when I move to the a new 20 wpc amplifier I'll be upgrading the rectifier tubes.  Question.  Given your humble opinions, what are your current top 3 rectifiers?  I haven't listened to anything but the 596 for years.

 

[jibzilla]

I see many U52's on Eslay... What are the best brand names to hunt?

 
You want to look at bases and getters rather than brands. Brown curved bases are more sought after. Don't pay over $400, they are a nice tube but that gentleman that is selling them for $1k+ is smoking something imo. The brands mean very little. The GEC 6as7g is the better value at $200-$300ish if your amp uses that tube as well. I thought the 6sn7 was the most important tube in my amp till I listened to that tube.
 
I do use a pretty high up the food chain 6sn7 tube in the 6sn7w long bottle, but with those 2 in place just a $50 smooth plate rca 5u4g is all that is needed in my amp which is a wheatfield ha-2, the baby brother of the Apex Teton. The smooth plates are a little harder to find and a little more expensive than the ribbed plate but really worth it if you can find one.
 
Before you spend big bucks on a u52 check to see what the amp maker thinks about it. In my wheatfield manual it does say that changing the 6sn7 will make a difference and says that a 6as7 or 5998 change will improve things over the stock 6080 but little to no difference changing the 5u4g. Either the rca 5u4g smooth plate is an amazing tube, quite a bit better than the stock tube, or the 422, u52, and 596 just didn't do it for me. I thought they were more preferable just not anywhere near 10 times preferable, which is the price difference, and with the gec 6as7g and 6sn7w long bottle in place, not necessary. Using hd800's.

 

[derkonstrukteur]

I did buy a Bendix. Beyond amazing. Thank you.

 

[Zub-a-Roo]

   
You want to look at bases and getters rather than brands. Brown curved bases are more sought after. Don't pay over $400, they are a nice tube but that gentleman that is selling them for $1k+ is smoking something imo. The brands mean very little. The GEC 6as7g is the better value at $200-$300ish if your amp uses that tube as well. I thought the 6sn7 was the most important tube in my amp till I listened to that tube.
 
I do use a pretty high up the food chain 6sn7 tube in the 6sn7w long bottle, but with those 2 in place just a $50 smooth plate rca 5u4g is all that is needed in my amp which is a wheatfield ha-2, the baby brother of the Apex Teton. The smooth plates are a little harder to find and a little more expensive than the ribbed plate but really worth it if you can find one.
 
Before you spend big bucks on a u52 check to see what the amp maker thinks about it. In my wheatfield manual it does say that changing the 6sn7 will make a difference and says that a 6as7 or 5998 change will improve things over the stock 6080 but little to no difference changing the 5u4g. Either the rca 5u4g smooth plate is an amazing tube, quite a bit better than the stock tube, or the 422, u52, and 596 just didn't do it for me. I thought they were more preferable just not anywhere near 10 times preferable, which is the price difference, and with the gec 6as7g and 6sn7w long bottle in place, not necessary. Using hd800's.

Jibzilla,  Thank you for the response.
 
I am currently utilizing 6SN7 Bad Boys in my WA6SE, with the highly current buzzed about Brimar.  I have also used the Sophia Princess prior to the Brimar, which I also really like (especially with the K701).  
 
My three primary headphones used are the K701, HD650, and LCD 2.2F.  I guess my concern is... will an upgraded U52, 422, or 596 be worth the price paid.... or to focus that money towards a th900 or upgraded CD player.
 
The more feedback I get, I may just continue to run these tubes and look at a Rega / Yaqin CD Player or add the TH900 to my HP family.
 
Thx for the feedback  

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Jibzilla,  Thank you for the response.

I am currently utilizing 6SN7 Bad Boys in my WA6SE, with the highly current buzzed about Brimar.  I have also used the Sophia Princess prior to the Brimar, which I also really like (especially with the K701).  

My three primary headphones used are the K701, HD650, and LCD 2.2F.  I guess my concern is... will an upgraded U52, 422, or 596 be worth the price paid.... or to focus that money towards a th900 or upgraded CD player.

The more feedback I get, I may just continue to run these tubes and look at a Rega / Yaqin CD Player or add the TH900 to my HP family.

Thx for the feedback  

TH-900

 

[Porteroso]

In for a U52. Hope it is as good as it seems it might be.

 

[jhljhl]

• I'm actually selling a Brimar U52 right now in the classifieds.

 

[jibzilla]

  Jibzilla,  Thank you for the response.
 
I am currently utilizing 6SN7 Bad Boys in my WA6SE, with the highly current buzzed about Brimar.  I have also used the Sophia Princess prior to the Brimar, which I also really like (especially with the K701).  
 
My three primary headphones used are the K701, HD650, and LCD 2.2F.  I guess my concern is... will an upgraded U52, 422, or 596 be worth the price paid.... or to focus that money towards a th900 or upgraded CD player.
 
The more feedback I get, I may just continue to run these tubes and look at a Rega / Yaqin CD Player or add the TH900 to my HP family.
 
Thx for the feedback  

I had that amp but it was a while ago. I liked it allot with the 2.2c. I would check with Jack and other owners to see what tubes made the biggest difference. My recommendation would be to ditch the k701 and get the airbow sr-sc-11 from price japan and a used 727ii before the th-900. It's more expensive but with the proceeds from the 701 not allot more.
 
The sound  is amazing and then you would have a stat, planar, dynamic combo. The 727ii also has parallel outs so it would not be a problem to run the 2 amps together. I say the k701 because to me the 650 and lcd-2 sound decently alike and should run similarly well off the wa6-se but I'm just guessing.

 

[jibzilla]

  I did buy a Bendix. Beyond amazing. Thank you.

Bendix 6080wb? I tried out quite a few 6080's and thought they were worth not much more than the $10-$20 they sold for. Def. felt like they were bottlenecking the wheatfield. The graphite plates are a totally different story though and because the 6080's have such a bad rap they are decently affordable at around $50. With the bendix at $50 the 5998 is no more than a $100 tube and the GEC 6as7g no more than $200 tube at least in the wheatfield with hd800's. Really nice tube.
 
Back to the 5u4g. I did find one picture of todd with a Teton/hd800 setup at a meet. He was def. using a 5998. The 6sn7 is a metal base, I think it is a 6sn7w but it could be a melz. The 5u4g though looks like the Aus. miniwatt that came with my wheatfield and from what I can tell this is only a $30 tube tops. The rca smooth plate took it up a notch over the miniwatt and the holy grail 596, u52 and 422a a notch after that but the improvement was no bigger than the smooth plate from miniwatt and with the 596 adapter the price jump from $55 to at least $300-$600 just did not seem worth it where with the 6sn7 it was really, really worth it to go from a $50 grey glass, chrome dome, mouse ears...etc to a $200-$300 6sn7w, b65. TSRP probably too but I have not tried that or the 68fg adapter equivalent. A 33S30 is also on my bucket list.

 

[derkonstrukteur]

I am not familiar with the Bendix 6080. I bought the Bendix 6106 rectifier tube. I got one for $75. I think it's really a great tube.
Thank you. 

 

[2K9R56S]

Does anyone have an idea as to what would cause a Sophia Princess 274B mesh plate to perform terribly with a brand new WA22?  Actually two Sophia's in a row.
 
The first SP 274B sounded fine for about 30 minutes, then I started to hear a blip of static with each step of the volume knob, and eventually the overall volume was less than half of what it should have been.  The eBay seller replaced the tube, and sure enough the second tube started doing the same thing.
 
I have about 5 or 6 other rectifier tubes and they all work perfectly fine.  I contacted Woo and their only suggestion was to see if it happens with the original power and driver tubes (which is does), and Sophia's suggestion was to have my WA22 repaired immediately.
 
I had a Sophia Princess a few years back with my WA6 and never had an issue.  Could it be a bad batch or something?
 
Any suggestions/insight would be appreciated.
 
Thanks!

 

[Stereolab42]

  Does anyone have an idea as to what would cause a Sophia Princess 274B mesh plate to perform terribly with a brand new WA22?  Actually two Sophia's in a row.
 
The first SP 274B sounded fine for about 30 minutes, then I started to hear a blip of static with each step of the volume knob, and eventually the overall volume was less than half of what it should have been.  The eBay seller replaced the tube, and sure enough the second tube started doing the same thing.
 
I have about 5 or 6 other rectifier tubes and they all work perfectly fine.  I contacted Woo and their only suggestion was to see if it happens with the original power and driver tubes (which is does), and Sophia's suggestion was to have my WA22 repaired immediately.
 
I had a Sophia Princess a few years back with my WA6 and never had an issue.  Could it be a bad batch or something?
 
Any suggestions/insight would be appreciated.
 
Thanks!

 
I strongly doubt it's the SP given that you've tried two of them. Static when changing volume can be due to DC on the balanced inputs, try connecting your DAC to the RCA inputs instead and see if it goes away. The volume drop is a mystery.

 

[2K9R56S]

   
I strongly doubt it's the SP given that you've tried two of them. Static when changing volume can be due to DC on the balanced inputs, try connecting your DAC to the RCA inputs instead and see if it goes away. The volume drop is a mystery.

 
 
Just gave it a try.  Same results through the SE input but with an even lower volume.
 
Here's a group photo of all the other rectifiers that work perfectly fine.
 

 

[Stereolab42]

   
 
Just gave it a try.  Same results through the SE input but with an even lower volume.
 
Here's a group photo of all the other rectifiers that work perfectly fine.
 

 
Somehow I missed that you had tried multiple other rectifiers. Honestly, this is bizarre since I had a WA22 with multiple Sophias and other rectifiers and they all worked fine. Not sure what to say.