[Shaffer]

[...]

The vast majority of my tubes, something like 900 or so, have been purchased from eBay sellers.

Mine, as well, though I have far fewer tubes putting it mildly. I've always loved the sound of tube amplifiers, but could never afford the ones that could drive my speakers. Tube preamps, not so much, generally. In the headphone world, I can actually afford to run a high-quality tube amp. It's great! This being the case, my familiarity with various vintage tubes is on a nanoscale. At the risk of sounding less than modest, many consider me an expert on LPs. Only took 40 years. Using the same scale, I'm a complete tube newb, so I tend to buy less expensive bottles, albeit good quality, in hopes of getting a point of reference as to my preference. Ebay is a great place for that. For example, last night I bought a JAN NOS Raytheon 6080 for less than $13 shipped. Hope to use it in the DV336SE.

BTW, I bought the 6080s you suggested. Should be here next week. Thanks again.

 

[Shaffer]

I installed a pair of 6SN7s as output tubes. Any reason why this may be a bad idea with the Elise?

 

[JohnBal]

I installed a pair of 6SN7s as output tubes. Any reason why this may be a bad idea with the Elise?

You might want to check with the manufacturer before trying something like this. The 6SN7 is a driver tube, not usually meant to sub for an output tube. You could have a very bad day.

 

[Shaffer]

You might want to check with the manufacturer before trying something like this. The 6SN7 is a driver tube, not usually meant to sub for an output tube. You could have a very bad day.

I ran them for ~5 minutes as an experiment. Anyone else, like some of the usual suspects?

 

[gibosi]

I can't see anyway that running 6SN7s would hurt anything. However, as the circuit is designed for 6AS7, it might not sound very good....  A more interesting tube to try instead of the 6SN7 would be the 6BL7 / 6BX7.

 

[mordy]

Hi Gibosi,
 
Independent of your suggestion, I just tried the 6BL7 in the Elise.
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/732875/feliks-audio-6sn7-6as7g-6080-prototype/1620#post_11735240
 
 
Do you think it would be a good idea to merge the two threads since we have about a dozen Elise owners at this point?

 

[gibosi]

  Hi Gibosi,
 
Independent of your suggestion, I just tried the 6BL7 in the Elise.
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/732875/feliks-audio-6sn7-6as7g-6080-prototype/1620#post_11735240
 
 
Do you think it would be a good idea to merge the two threads since we have about a dozen Elise owners at this point?

 
Since I am not an Elise owner, I don't think I should have any say about merging Elise-related threads.
 
And your observations regarding the 6BL7 are about what I expected. On several occasions, Glenn has built an OTL with 4 (or more) output sockets. For example, it could use 4 6BL7s or 2 6AS7s. So from your experience and his, it seems that it takes 4 6BL7s to match the bass slam of 2 6AS7s. On the other hand, some believe the 6BL7 sounds better than the 6AS7, and for sure, they are inexpensive.

 

[Shaffer]

Do you think it would be a good idea to merge the two threads since we have about a dozen Elise owners at this point?

Yes.

 

[Contrails]

What headphones are pairing well with this amp? I am guessing the Senns are great, anyone try Lcd-2/3/x or ether?

 

[hypnos1]

What headphones are pairing well with this amp? I am guessing the Senns are great, anyone try Lcd-2/3/x or ether?

 
Hi Contrails.
 
Your best bet is to post this in the main Elise thread : http://www.head-fi.org/t/732875/feliks-audio-elise-previously-6sn7-6as7g-6080-prototype/3000#post_11932945
 
But this amp appears to be pairing well with a fairly wide range of cans so far - especially the Beyer T1s that I and others have, and the HD800s.
 
I don't recall any owners yet with LCDs or Ethers - but I could be wrong! (I personally would love to know how the Ethers sound in her...).
 
I have to say I personally believe the T1s must be one of the best pairings - so long as that treble is smoothed somewhat, either by tube selection or one of the simple mods mentioned by T1 owners on their specific threads...
 
Look forward to seeing you over at the other thread - we now have a bunch of very helpful and knowledgeable guys who will surely give you more info...

 

[Contrails]

Thank you, much appreciated.

 

[Renderman]

Hi Guys,
 
Received these wonderful tubes:

They are very enjoyable, very balanced type with good dynamics. Bass is not as thunderous as the ECC31 but very solid. Everything from (sub)bass to treble is just there. Great tubes! 
 
Will keep listening to these for a while to form a more complete opinion but, so far I like these a lot.

 

[gibosi]

Those 1940's gray-glass NUs are among my favorite 6SN7s. Glad to know you are enjoying them.

 

[Renderman]

  Those 1940's gray-glass NUs are among my favorite 6SN7s. Glad to know you are enjoying them.

Thanks gibosi! I'm glad to know i'm not the only one to appreciate the qualities of ths tube. Would you care to share your impression of them (and maybe even get it added to the opening post)?

 

[hypnos1]

  Hi Guys,
 
Received these wonderful tubes:

They are very enjoyable, very balanced type with good dynamics. Bass is not as thunderous as the ECC31 but very solid. Everything from (sub)bass to treble is just there. Great tubes! 
 
Will keep listening to these for a while to form a more complete opinion but, so far I like these a lot.

 
Hi R...they look like another good option in the 6SN7 frame. Keep 'em comin', lol!