[Impulsive]

Quote:

Hi Imp,
 
Don't bother with the Tung Sols - the Mullards have better bass. (But again, YMMV....)

Hmm, interesting. did you tried 6AK5 / 6AK5W Tung-Sol?
 
I only remember people saying that Tung-Sols have better bass that Mullards.
 
Quote:

 
As to the CV850/M8100/EF95/CV4010 Mullards they should all be equivalents and very similar.

I am asking just because they aren't similar price-wise.
Price differs a lot.
 
From 20 USD for mached pair of M8100 up to 80 USD for matched pair of CV850.

 

[mordy]

Hi Imp,
 
I have perhaps 3-4 different sets of Tung Sol tubes. I'll given them a listen again, and compare to the Mullards.
BTW, Tung Sol invented this tube, maybe in 1943-44. There are a number of equivalent American designations such as 6AK5, 5654, 403. I bought some tubes from a seller that called them "peanut tubes!"

 

[AlexRoma]

Guys..
 
I had seriously changed my views about Russian Groovy Tubes.
 
The strange thing casing this was the fact that even after 50 hours these still get warmer and warmer..
 
They still burn in... I had made some changes in my previous negative post on Russians. Check it out 
 
I do seriously recommend these for a neutral/warm/dark sounding DAC. At the moment I enjoy my DT880's though them. There is definitely more bass in these compared to M8100's.. It sounds a little bassyer then my Audio GD NFB11 , and still lower, less agresive on highs ! These are not expensive tubes. You could at least try one...
 
Here is the link for the best series of Russian 6J1P-EV tubes (1975-1978) . Buy the way... This E-Bay seller has put some serious creeps on my back... The fact is.. I live in Moldova too... I had bought my tubes on our local radio-market... Now I am 100% confident it is the guy I had bought from...
One in a thousand coincidence...
I'm gonna buy another batch of these, natural human greed

 

 

[britt2001b]

 
Quote:

Hi!
 
Update on the Large Shield Mullard EF92/CV131/M8161 tubes:
 
Pros: Very detailed sound, separating out the instruments clearly, good bass, beautiful highs. Responds especially well to the treble tone control. The EF92 tubes feel cooler to the touch than others I tried, but the amp itself runs fairly hot.
 
Cons: Mid range dark and somewhat dull and mellow, lacking "bite" in the upper mid range , ultimately harshness in bass and mid range that becomes grating (but less so than the Mullard EF91 tubes). Poor response to bass tone control. Sound stage not extended. Transistorized sound in my system. Lacking the sweetness and tube warmth of the Mullard EF95/CV850-M8100/CV4010 tubes.
 
After 60 hours of burning in I had to take the EF92s out of my system. At least it has become much easier to change the jumpers now. Put in the Mullard EF95/CV850 tubes. Finally things sounded just right again, nothing is bothering me, allowing me to concentrate on the music.
 
Sorry, but in my system the EF92 tubes sing out of tune.
Based on impressions by others, I had expected more, but I can only report on what my ears hear on my equipment....
 
 

Thanks for the update Mordy. I didn't expect this response based on earlier testimony within this thread. I agree, what's important is what you hear and I'm convinced the same tubes will give different results on a variety of hardware.
 
After about 60 hours, I am thoroughly happy with the so called Mullard "small shield" M8161's. They can be described as almost the opposite of your report on the large shields. The mids are very alive and pleasing, and they give the most classic tube sound from all the tubes I have sampled, far from a transistorized sound. I am in no hurry to remove these tubes. I'm enjoying my favorite music more than ever! 
 
I know my low impedence Sony MDR 7506's are in the minority here but the Mullard small shield's seem to be a good fit for these headphones. 

 

[-su]

Quote:

Hmm, interesting. did you tried 6AK5 / 6AK5W Tung-Sol?
 
I only remember people saying that Tung-Sols have better bass that Mullards.
 
I am asking just because they aren't similar price-wise.
Price differs a lot.
 
From 20 USD for mached pair of M8100 up to 80 USD for matched pair of CV850.

Hi imp...
 
I got my CV850 only for 25bucks.
Like I said on my previous posts, I also found one local seller who would like to sell his matched pair M8100 for expensive USD80...
When I ask him the reason, he only said that all his tubes are imported and not locally bought.
Well a little bit funny cause I know for sure there isn't any local tube manufacturer here at my country

 
 

 

[Impulsive]

damn.
People trying to get rich on every possible thing.
Thanks for your opinions and reviews people.
 
Also nice link on that russian tubes, price is great.
But i wont be changing anything, now enjoying M8100 bass so much
 
BTW AlexRoma did you saw the comedy RED? (Retired Extremely Dangerous)
Do not thake this personally, I just lolled so hard :-D
 
Quote:

 I live in Moldova too...

 
Moldova SUCKS
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDiGljfJ778&feature=related
 

 

[AlexRoma]

 

Spoiler: Moldova%20SUCKS

 
Hehe.. You know what, our people, living beyond poverty level, have learned making fun and jokes on each other more then the others... The other nations like Koreans or Japanese would surely ban the movie for this joke, not Moldavians.. In our county, at cinema, when hearing this words, people of all ages started a maniacal laugh, then a group shouting, like the one on the football match -> ole-ole-ole-ole, Moldova it sucks

.  
 
It sucks indeed... 
 

 

 

[Impulsive]

Quote:

 

Spoiler: Moldova%20SUCKS

 
Hehe.. You know what, our people, living beyond poverty level, have learned making fun and jokes on each other more then the others... The other nations like Koreans or Japanese would surely ban the movie for this joke, not Moldavians.. In our county, at cinema, when hearing this words, people of all ages started a maniacal laugh, then a group shouting, like the one on the football match -> ole-ole-ole-ole, Moldova it sucks

.  
 
It sucks indeed... 
 

 

Nice to hear that kind and relaxed people still live
I am not saying it sucks, just pointing out joke
 
Well, people beyond poverty level have nothing to loose, they are living this life like every day is their last, they arent bothering with politics, world opinions and such a crap.
These people will help you first when you need help.
Rougly said, people like this are in every nation.
 

 

[mordy]

Hi Imp,
 
Went back to check out my collection of Tung Sol tubes again. Put in one of the most unusual tubes I have - a side getter Tung Sol. The silk screening is yellow and says Tung Sol JTL 6AK5.
The top of the tube glass envelope is completely clear, and there is nothing inside the top part. It is as if the tube could have been made 20% smaller in height. The getter flash (silver coating) is in the middle on the side of the tube. The getter facing it is sticking out from the middle of the black plate, which is oval shaped. The getter itself is half moon shaped.
I have not seen these tubes advertised for sale anywhere, so perhaps they are rare. (Got them as part of lots of tubes I bought.)
 
The sound is very pleasant, polite, detailed and smooth. Nothing bothers me; I can concentrate on the music. These tubes are neutral with a delicious overall balance; nothing is exaggerated; they just sound right with the right amount of bass and treble, but without the "Wow" factor of the EF95 family of Mullards.
 
Overall a very pleasant and listenable tube; one I could live with.
 

 

[danska]

Mordy,
 
I'm gonna try to get my hands on some of those Tung Sols, or just some of the manufacturer in general. I'm still digging my 8161's and EF92 Mullards. The EF92 has a very nice sound, and I believe is about broken in now. I feel the overall presentation, out of the tubes I own is best represented by the EF92 family tubes. Unlike a lot of you though, I listen to Vinyl mostly.
 
 
To the others talking about the 6H30, a few pages before your discussion I talked about buying a set of Electro-Harmonix 6H30Pi (matched) and they were relatively affordable (not cheap still), but I got a big gain out of them. Now that I have a much better phono stage, I don't see the value in them as much since that was the reason for my initial purchase.

 

[Impulsive]

Hello mordy.
very interesting, never saw such a tube.
Can you take pic of it?
I am curious myself.
And good to know sound is nice
 
Oh how i am tempted for 6H30 but unfortunately my PCB rev. is 1.0
Yeah EH is much cheaper than russian 6H30 but good to know that it is good for that price.

 

[danska]

For you Imp, and everyone its probably worth buying more driver tubes anyways (as we already have discussed!)
 
For the amount I spent I could have gotten a pretty decent power cable or some stuff to upgrade my Jolida JD-9. I'm not regretting it, because this amp does kick ass!

 

[Impulsive]

It sure does kick ass!
However, i am not going to buy anymore tubes because this Mullards M8100 kicks my ass pretty fine!
Only if they fail or change sound sig. after burn-in, story will continue.
Now i love it in the way it sounds.

 

[john57]

I agree with you that the Mullards M8100 are very nice. I just roll them yesterday in my MKll. But what made the biggest difference were the power tubes. The original power tubes the Beijing 6N6-T were just plain lousy. There were good at first but latter after some burn-in they deteriorated with power compression, clipping easily and just sounds like the power tubes were working overtime. I replaced the Beijing 6N6-T with carefully matched Russian 6N6P tubes that have the Rhombus 5 Logo and it made quite a bit of a big difference. I was quite surprised and I no longer believe that power tubes make only 15% of the SQ.  I can really tell that having a matched pair had better balance between the channels and I thought that since my ears are not the same I was still able to tell the benefits of a matched pair.  The Russian 6N6P has more power, more clear sound and the bass is much tighter which made a big difference with the Denon headphones.  Also the treble has fewer sibilants but still has good high treble. Also tried another power tube, the Sovtek 6H30PI, which has a bit more power with the Denon’s headphone and a slightly more treble than the Russian 6N6P. I decided to use the Russian 6N6P as my main power tube and the 6H30PI as my backup tubes for the moment.
 
On the driver tube side so far I changed to the Mullards M8100 from the stock 6JI. I was going to try another driver tube but the tubes never came in.  I find that the stock 6JI made everything sounds like it was coming from a metal barrel, a type of ringing. The Mullards have a smoother cleaner sound with no resonances like the barrel effect. The mullards also are a bit stronger in the low midrange and a bit less percerved distortion in the low treble as compared to the stock 6JI.
Almost finished with the tube rolling but I may try again with another driver tube maybe from the EF91 family.    
 

 

[mordy]

Hi John 57,
 
I was surprised to see that somebody is using the Chinese made tubes because I have never seen a positive review of the Chinese made tubes for the Little Dot MkIII amp.