[infinity3914]

Here is the Brimar 'Footscray' (made at the Standard Telephone & Cable Ltd Foots Cray plant in 1956). Langrex currently has 247 of them:

Sigh, you folks are bad influences...

 

[lauthoerer]

Sigh, you folks are bad influences...

I just wanted to say the exact opposite…

 

[JerseyD]

I just wanted to say the exact opposite…

OK, I just bought one as well! Must experience the Footscray magic for myself...

 

[lauthoerer]

When I got my HP8, the Tungsram 12AX7 and the Brown-base David Shaw CV181s were included. I don't have any experience with the McIntosh (tbh I didn't know McIntosh made 12AX7A tubes, this is the first) 12AX7A or the Sylvania 6SN7WGTAs, but I'd highly recommend trying out some VT-231 tubes. I went with @geoffalter11 and @jonathan c's recommendations and got myself a matched pair of Westinghouse 6SN7GTB, Ken-Rad VT-231s (amazing bass), RCA VT-231s (amazing midrange), and they sound noticeably more enjoyable than the David Shaw CV181s.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/icon-audio-hp8-mp-3.492604/post-17976404
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/icon-audio-hp8-mp-3.492604/post-17976413
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/icon-audio-hp8-mp-3.492604/post-17975945
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/icon-audio-hp8-mp-3.492604/post-17975967

As for the preamp tube, I currently run a cryo-treated NOS Mullard 12AT7. I like the extra headroom on 12AT7s as they have a lower gain than 12AX7s. Plus, NOS 12AT7s are not insanely expensive like 12AX7s. For 12AT7s, you really can't go wrong with Mullard. If you're set on 12AX7, I'd check out this article by Brent Jesse, who probably has a bunker of NOS tubes at this point.

Hope that helps!

Totally does, thanks a lot for the tipps to you all!

Checked on those Ken-Rad VT-231s and see a couple of them on ebay (UK only, though, nothing in DE). What’s the difference between VT-2, VT-5, VT-7, etc? Which variant is the one to get?

Also, I take it, I should get a “matched pair” for V2/V3 tubes, not buy two of them separately, right?

 

[Pharmaboy]

I just wanted to say the exact opposite…

It's the old morality construct: devil on left shoulder, angel on right, both giving contradictory advice (flip a coin).

 

[geoffalter11]

You cannot get more "bang for the buck" in a 12AT7 tube than with a Brimar CV455 of that vintage.

Thanks to Jonathan, I know about these tubes and use them as input tube in 2 different amps (Icon Audio HP8 & Woo WA3). They are now my favorite input tubes.

They are the best 12AT7 I've ever heard. The Amperex 12AX7s are the best I've heard in that variant. There are many 5751's from Raytheon that are amazing as well. They are in between the cost of a 12AT7 and a 12AX7. For the HP8, 12AT7s seem to work best as that amp is so powerful.

 

[lauthoerer]

OK, I just bought one as well! Must experience the Footscray magic for myself...

+1

Thanks a lot, @jonathan c for helping me navigate those variants
(too bad that one on ebay.de was not the same…)

 

[jonathan c]

Despite this being an Icon Audio HP8 thread, I did want to show that the 'Footscrays' see active duty in a number of h/p/a besides HP8. For example:

[Woo WA6 Gen 1: with 12A#7 --> 6DE7 adapters. Rectifier tube is Brimar CV1863 (KB/FE)]

 

[JonT]

Here is the Brimar 'Footscray' (made at the Standard Telephone & Cable Ltd Foots Cray plant in 1956). Langrex currently has 247 of them:

I bought one of these from Langrex in October 2022 - never got round to trying it!

(I bought a Brimar 'Reds' 12AX7 in the same order and have had that in the HP8 ever since)

All the excitement has prompted me to drop it into the HP8 - now warming up a few hours before listening tonight!

 

[geoffalter11]

I bought one of these from Langrex in October 2022 - never got round to trying it!

(I bought a Brimar 'Reds' 12AX7 in the same order and have had that in the HP8 ever since)

All the excitement has prompted me to drop it into the HP8 - now warming up a few hours before listening tonight!

The whole warming up tube thing is such an interesting topic. When I ask my tube guy if I need to burn in the tubes I buy from him he always tells me no. Turn them on, wait 5-10 minutes for them to bias and go. They are ready. I only buy NOS tubes. Others feel tubes need 100-150 hrs of burn in. I have no idea what is right and what is wrong. I guess whatever works for each individual is good enough for me.

I follow my tube guys instructions. I turn on my amp, let the amp get warm and then go. 5-10 minutes. With the HP8 I noticed a difference in the sound at about 20 minutes as it seemed to bias in that amount of time. My Aficionado takes 10 minutes, at most to bias. I have no answers, only questions.

I hope you love the 12AT7 Footscray. That 12AX7 Red sounds awesome.

My Aficionado doesn't use any of the tubes that the HP8 used. So, I sold a lot and gifted the rest. I had a ton... Aficionado takes (2) 2A3s, (1) 396a and (1) GZ-34 or 5R4GY. I have a pair of 1932 RCA Single Plate 2A3s and a pair each of Tung Sol and Ken Rad 1944 Black Glass 2A3s. But, with the Aficionado, the rectifier makes the biggest difference to the sound of the amp. So, I have a Mullard/Amperex GZ-34 Metal Base. Actually came with the amp. Boy was that lucky as it is a $750 tube. It also came with a pair of Emission Labs Mesh 2A3s. Hated those and sold em for the Single Plates. Something sexy and romantic about 90 yr old tubes in my amp.

I miss my HP8.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Despite this being an Icon Audio HP8 thread, I did want to show that the 'Footscrays' see active duty in a number of h/p/a besides HP8. For example: [Woo WA6 Gen 1: with 12A#7 --> 6DE7 adapters. Rectifier tube is Brimar CV1863 (KB/FE)]

I have the same input tube setup (2 x CV455s) in my Woo WA3 except for power tube (mine is Tung Sol 5998).

If there's a way to get sound that is "just average" out of the Brimar CV455 tube, I have yet to find it...

 

[JonT]

The whole warming up tube thing is such an interesting topic. When I ask my tube guy if I need to burn in the tubes I buy from him he always tells me no. Turn them on, wait 5-10 minutes for them to bias and go. They are ready. I only buy NOS tubes. Others feel tubes need 100-150 hrs of burn in. I have no idea what is right and what is wrong. I guess whatever works for each individual is good enough for me.

I follow my tube guys instructions. I turn on my amp, let the amp get warm and then go. 5-10 minutes. With the HP8 I noticed a difference in the sound at about 20 minutes as it seemed to bias in that amount of time. My Aficionado takes 10 minutes, at most to bias. I have no answers, only questions.

I hope you love the 12AT7 Footscray. That 12AX7 Red sounds awesome.

My Aficionado doesn't use any of the tubes that the HP8 used. So, I sold a lot and gifted the rest. I had a ton... Aficionado takes (2) 2A3s, (1) 396a and (1) GZ-34 or 5R4GY. I have a pair of 1932 RCA Single Plate 2A3s and a pair each of Tung Sol and Ken Rad 1944 Black Glass 2A3s. But, with the Aficionado, the rectifier makes the biggest difference to the sound of the amp. So, I have a Mullard/Amperex GZ-34 Metal Base. Actually came with the amp. Boy was that lucky as it is a $750 tube. It also came with a pair of Emission Labs Mesh 2A3s. Hated those and sold em for the Single Plates. Something sexy and romantic about 90 yr old tubes in my amp.

I miss my HP8.

I have no idea either - other than a tube needing to reach its operating envelope following switch on at the amp.

I figure that if a tube really is the 'N' in NOS (apart from brief testing before sale) then there might be a period where manufacturing detritus settles and/or the properties of materials in the construction undergo some final electrical/heat induced changes during the very first operating period(s). Though whether that would be audible....?

My system is analogue only (turntable), so I'm never going to run tubes for 100-150 hours "in the background" as they say - imagine squandering all that cartridge life! - and even then I doubt my ability to reliably recall sonic differences over such a lengthy period of time (barring malfunction).

I'd say I am a believer in a general "running in period" (to use David Shaw's phrase) of systems/components as a whole, on electrical-mechanical grounds. Even thousands of hours in, my speakers come alive again after a couple of LP sides from cold (or I re-re-re-re-psychoacoustically adjust in 40 minutes). I can't say I've heard an hifi component radically change it's sound after "running in" - but perhaps I've cloth ears!

 

[geoffalter11]

I have no idea either - other than a tube needing to reach its operating envelope following switch on at the amp.

I figure that if a tube really is the 'N' in NOS (apart from brief testing before sale) then there might be a period where manufacturing detritus settles and/or the properties of materials in the construction undergo some final electrical/heat induced changes during the very first operating period(s). Though whether that would be audible....?

My system is analogue only (turntable), so I'm never going to run tubes for 100-150 hours "in the background" as they say - imagine squandering all that cartridge life! - and even then I doubt my ability to reliably recall sonic differences over such a lengthy period of time (barring malfunction).

I'd say I am a believer in a general "running in period" (to use David Shaw's phrase) of systems/components as a whole, on electrical-mechanical grounds. Even thousands of hours in, my speakers come alive again after a couple of LP sides from cold (or I re-re-re-re-psychoacoustically adjust in 40 minutes). I can't say I've heard an hifi component radically change it's sound after "running in" - but perhaps I've cloth ears!

I agree 100% with you on all of this. Maybe I have cloth ears as well. The differences I mostly hear with my gear are my brain learning how something sounds. There are days things sound better to me than others. I know a lot say that electrically certain components need time to settle in, burn in, etc. I haven't heard it personally. But, I have heard differences over time. I have always equated this to my own evolution with a piece of gear.

The best headphone experience of my life was a ZMF Vibro MK1 on a high end turn table system listening to Kind of Blue on a turn table hooked into the integrated amp. I think it was a Rogue amp, and a VPI turntable. To this day, I am chasing that sound and I know that the only way to achieve it is to get an analogue system again.

I had one when I lived in SF. I gave all of my albums and my turntable to a friend when I moved to Jackson Hole. I just didn't want to take it all. I was out of room. Biggest mistake of my life as I have an amazing system now that would only be made better if I could use it analogue as well.

 

[geoffalter11]

I have no idea either - other than a tube needing to reach its operating envelope following switch on at the amp.

I figure that if a tube really is the 'N' in NOS (apart from brief testing before sale) then there might be a period where manufacturing detritus settles and/or the properties of materials in the construction undergo some final electrical/heat induced changes during the very first operating period(s). Though whether that would be audible....?

My system is analogue only (turntable), so I'm never going to run tubes for 100-150 hours "in the background" as they say - imagine squandering all that cartridge life! - and even then I doubt my ability to reliably recall sonic differences over such a lengthy period of time (barring malfunction).

I'd say I am a believer in a general "running in period" (to use David Shaw's phrase) of systems/components as a whole, on electrical-mechanical grounds. Even thousands of hours in, my speakers come alive again after a couple of LP sides from cold (or I re-re-re-re-psychoacoustically adjust in 40 minutes). I can't say I've heard an hifi component radically change it's sound after "running in" - but perhaps I've cloth ears!

Have you seen the show Hijack on Apple TV with Idris Elba? Idris has a Icon Audio Tube Amp for his system in his apartment in the show. Episode 5. Idris is a professional DJ in addition to being Idris. It was a really quick moment where his son puts on an album and you cannot mistake the copper plate on the amp. It is super fast. Like 3-5 seconds but I was jumping up and down. I wrote David to see if he knew about it. He didn't. He had no idea which tells me that Idris Elba is an Icon Audio fan.

For those who haven't seen the show, I didn't give away any of the plot or the show in anyway by saying this. I highly recommend the show. Great watch and Icon is in the house!!!!!

Literally and figuratively...

 

[lauthoerer]

Checked on those Ken-Rad VT-231s and see a couple of them on ebay (UK only, though, nothing in DE). What’s the difference between VT-2, VT-5, VT-7, etc? Which variant is the one to get?

Also, I take it, I should get a “matched pair” for output tubes, not buy two of them separately, right?

Anyone?