[Golfnutz]

Quote:

Any thoughts for winged C/SED’s?

You could wait until a reliable person has compared the SED's to the EL34PH.
 
If you don't want to wait, I'll sell you my quad of SED's winged 'C'. Very low hours.
 
In all honesty, the differences are more like changing sources, rather than tubes. It's pretty substantial, at least in my system.

 

[Bones13]

I plan to try my Winged C quad in my BHSE, once it runs in awhile with the stock tubes.  My Winged C EL34s are already seasoned from use in my speaker amp.  I do know that the Black Treasure 6CA7 tubes sound better in my speaker amp.
 
Then again, "better" is quite relative, depending on listener preferences, and in my case amp/speaker/room.  I have moved into a new house this spring, and about to have finished the man cave, I need to retry my EL34 sets again, and see if the differences I used to hear in my quite poor acoustical setting, are still present in my much improved setting (well the room is no longer cubic, with all 4 surfaces hard, and no more bookcase between the speakers).  Based on my preference for the Treasures currently, I was looking at the 6CA7 TII quad for my speaker amp, and then trying my other tubes in the BHSE.

 

[Phil95]

It would be a pity if Golfnutz's and Attorney's tests about "the best EL34 tubes" remained unexploited. So the question is: will Justin offer the Psvane EL34PH as an option (not for free, of course) on the forthcoming BHSEs?

 

[audiosceptic]

I've been listening with the Psvane EL34PH for a couple weeks now in my BHSE. I will 2nd whoever said be careful with the center pins. I broke one off in one of my Psvane tubes and I've never done this before with other tubes after hundreds of tube swaps. I found these to make the broken tube safely usable again: http://www.tubesandmore.com/products/P-STKY-1
 
I find it very hard to distinguish EL34 tube differences in the BHSE. After the time if takes to swap the tubes, bias the tubes and wait for the tubes to warm up it's hard to remember what you heard and if there is any difference. I did think the Amperex XF4 tubes I was running were better than the stock Mullards that came with the amp. I couldn't tell the difference between a matched quad of NOS Mullard XF2's and the Amperex XF4 so I used the Amperex and kept the Mullards for something else.
 
The Psvane's are nice tubes but in a blind test I don't think I could tell the difference between them and the Amperex (or other good EL34 tubes like the SED). I'll keep them in the BHSE for now and get used to the sound over time. I'll swap back in the Amperex later and see if there is a difference then.

 

[Rico613]

Quote:

 will Justin offer the Psvane EL34PH as an option (not for free, of course) on the forthcoming BHSEs?

 
Quote:

I've been listening with the Psvane EL34PH for a couple weeks now in my BHSE. I will 2nd whoever said be careful with the center pins. I broke one off in one of my Psvane tubes and I've never done this before with other tubes after hundreds of tube swaps.

 
 
         Hmmm . . . I'm guessing  . . .  no . . .

 

[justin w.]

a lot of assembly progress this week, more updates soon

 

[justin w.]

 

[Bones13]

W a i t for it.........

 

[Rico613]

Quote:

 I broke one off in one of my Psvane tubes and I've never done this before with other tubes after hundreds of tube swaps.

 
One of the tubes in my quad of EL34PH's had rough unfinished pins.  This could easily account for the broken center pin as people try to seat the tube in the socket.  I'm using some emery paper to polish it up.  Psvane cautions people to grasp these tubes from the base only.  Hopefully these measures will avoid the broken center pin syndrome.

 

[wink]

Quote:Rico613

Psvane cautions people to grasp these tubes from the base only.  Hopefully these measures will avoid the broken center pin syndrome.

You'd think they would have enough pride in their product to apply some quality control and make sure the pins are suitably finished in the first place.
 
Doesn't augur well for other quality issues as consistency in performance of individual tubes, or longevity of the product.

 

[Rico613]

Quote:

You'd think they would have enough pride in their product to apply some quality control and make sure the pins are suitably finished in the first place.
 
Doesn't augur well for other quality issues as consistency in performance of individual tubes, or longevity of the product.

 
I think you may be expecting too much from Chinese factory workers.  Management is another story of course, but I'm not sure it reflects the overall quality of all their products.  The apparent sound quality reported here by Golfnutz and others indicates there is quality going into the tubes at least at the design level.  Rachel at Grant's Fidelity suggests that Psvane deliberately makes the EL34PH look antique.  Here is what she had to say about it.
 
Quote: Rachel at Grant's Fidelity http://psvanetube.com/wordpress/

I will certainly provide the feedback to the factory. I was told that the brass collar of the tube bass was made purposely look rough (unfinished) so that they have an 'antique' looking as part of the 'NOS replica' theme. I do notice the pins are tighter than other EL34 we have from Psvane Audio - I will ask to see if they can change the pins in the future... again the factory choose to use this type of pins to give it the exact same look as NOS Philip Holland tubes but nowadays the socket may be made to fit them too tight.
 
If I wasn't mistaken, the factory use an acid erosion process to make the brass look more like antique (I was surprised that they didn't put on some green-ish rust in the finish . Seems the finish gets good acceptance in Chinese market so they followed that route. But I certainly understand that consumers in North America may have different preference. 
 
The 6CA7-TII are very good sounding tubes but they sound different from the PH Replica. Some users describe it as 'slightly less 3D imaging' but this doesn't mean the TII tubes are not good. They are far far superior than average current production EL34. 
 
It's very hard to say which tube is the best - listening is a lot related with personal preference and personal taste. I would say the T-II is a same league variation of great sounding tubes.

 
I did order the Psvane 6CA7 TII quad as well, so I'll be looking closely at the finish quality of those when I receive them.  It will be interesting to see if later adapters of the Psvane EL 34PH report a better finish on the pins.

 

[ThrillerUSA]

Hi guys,

Been following this thread with great interest thx, just pulled the trigger and ordered a quad set of Psvane EL34PH for my Jolida 302CRC.

If interested I could post my impressions when they arrive, I paid extra DHL shipping from China so they should reach me on the Isle of Man in a week or so.

Super excited.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

You'd think they would have enough pride in their product to apply some quality control and make sure the pins are suitably finished in the first place.
 
Doesn't augur well for other quality issues as consistency in performance of individual tubes, or longevity of the product.

 
There is also the small issue that tubes should always be grasped by the base alone.  No force should be applied to the glass as that's a good way to damage the bottom of the tube hidden by the base. 

 

[audiosceptic]

Quote:

 
One of the tubes in my quad of EL34PH's had rough unfinished pins.  This could easily account for the broken center pin as people try to seat the tube in the socket.  I'm using some emery paper to polish it up.  Psvane cautions people to grasp these tubes from the base only.  Hopefully these measures will avoid the broken center pin syndrome.

 
The pins are rough and unfinished which may have accounted for me pulling a little harder on the base when removing the tube and the center pin snapped off. A little unexpected from a $399.00 quad of tubes.

 

[Rico613]

^ thanks for discovering this problem for us

 
Maybe you can clean up the rough spots with some emery paper.  Mine is 150 grit.  It takes time to work all 8 pins.