[siles1991]

Guys just did some digging around and found some tubes on ebay wondering if it's possible to use them. The 6AN5 and the HY90

 

[Acapella11]

Quote:

Hi mab 1376,
 
here is post #2078 p. 139 (happy to see that you agree with the reviewer):
 
Hi All,
 
Here is a review of the IBM 1680 (6BE6) tube made by Sylvania: (please read until end or skip to summary)
...
EF95 2/7 strap: Wow! Multi layered 3D heptode magic! Bold, powerful bass, full of details and micro dynamics, great highs. Involuntarily toe tapping - a 4 on a scale of 5.
Cons: Bass does not go down to the deepest levels, and there is a minor mid range coolness and hollowness.
Very good presentation overall with tons of detail and musicality. EF95 2/7 - you are welcome any time.
..
SUMMARY OF THE IBM 1680 TUBE:
As mentioned before, the differences between heptodes are much more subtle than between 6AK5 tubes, and thus harder to describe.
Using the EF95 2/7 strap setting this tube is very good performer, albeit not on the level of the very best heptodes.
 
...

 
Quote:

Siemens EH90 "Foreign"

 

OK, finally here are my compliments for this tube. For this it needed a different DAC though. Introduction: Recently, I acquired cheaply the Yamaha HDD/CD-recorder CDR-HD1300. One of the features is a 24 Bit / 96 kHz D/A converter, which can be used in DAC mode. Hooking it up to the LD with the IBM 1680 tubes didn't really make me happy. Sounded a bit blurred, a bit too much bass. 2/7-strap was the solution for this tube. Much better focus and really easy lo listen to signature. In contrast to the sharp and slightly hard Audiolab M-DAC, this DAC is rather warm and imaging is thicker. So, for the Yamaha 2/7 works well, for the Audiolab unstrapped sounds great. Then come the Siemens EH90 "Foreign" 1/7-strap (1/7 is better 2/7 and NS). Imaging became sharper, sound overall crisper as you can expect form these tubes. They almost act as a focusing lens. The bass is more articulate as well. These tubes sounded "cleaner" than the IBM.  The overall tonality is nice with very good focus. Actually, a good match altogether. On a side note, the Yamaha output volume is unfortunately too low to support the output feed, which increases the distortion a little and decreases openness.

 

 
Quote:

If no one has tried the IBM 1680 with 2-7, give it a go, little less bass but overall much better IMO.

 
OK, nice one. Seems we agree on this,  at least certainly when I use the Yamaha HD1300.
Unfortunately, I have not tried 1/7 and 2/7 with the IBM 1680 on the M-DAC. Unstrapped just sounded good, hence I haven't commented on it yet. I will definitely check this out on the M-DAC as well. The IBM 1680s anyway have earned their individual review (using my regular DAC as well), so more on this later.
 
Second topic - Black Bottom 6A2P:
 

Well, there is good (2) and bad (1) news. First one good news: The tubes arrived safely. Secondly, the bad news: They are not Svetlana Black Bottom tubes from 1979! Instead, 9 out of 10 are white bottom October tubes from 1983 with slightly broader ribboning. On the other hand, they are more like "proper" Siemens as they also have a numeric digit printed in the bottom. Also interestingly, both share certain marks on the plates, which makes me think that they share a similar way of production. These obviously do not exactly sound like the black bottom tubes.

Now, the second good news is that they at least sound good. My first impressions are that they sound like a dryer version of the Siemens with very good focus. Quickly tested 1/7 and 2/7 as well, and I think I like 1/7, which adds some ambient, quite good really. No verdict yet. Surely I enjoy them at them moment, at least that´s fine. =)  

I have written the seller. Let's see what he says.

 

[gibosi]

Quote:

Guys just did some digging around and found some tubes on ebay wondering if it's possible to use them. The 6AN5 and the HY90

 
The HY90 is a rectifier, so no go. It was designed to be used in power supplies. The 6AN5 should work fine in the EF95 setting with no strapping required. To my knowledge no one has tried to these yet....

 

[MIKELAP]

Quote:

Hi All,
 
Since the material on this site is chock full of facts and excellent information, pioneering research, and wonderful civility and patient helpfulness, it may be a bit overwhelming to remember everything. I am little embarrassed  to say that I only recently discovered a search function that is available, It's not Google territory, but still useful.
 
On the top portion of the page, right above the line with the page numbers, there is a field :
 
1 Unread Post Subscribed Search This Thread Preferences
 
Click Search This Thread
 
Another field opens up: Search for posts in this thread
 
Here you can type in whatever you want; let's say 6HZ6. After you do this, click on search, then another two choices: Relevance or Recency.
 
I found Recency more useful; it lists posts mentioning 6HZ6 (or whatever you typed in) in order from the newest to the oldest post.
 
Something else that took a while for me to understand: The line with the pages has a space with dots. If you click on this, a slider appears that you can move to the page you are looking for. Then click go and you are on the page you want so you don't have to click through every page to get there.
 

1. « Previous
2. 1
3. …
4. 159
5. 160
6. 161
7. 162
8. 163
9. 164
10. 165
11. 166
12. 167

 
 
1 
Jump to page
 
If I have bored people with my rudimentary computer knowledge I apologize. However, maybe somebody will find this information useful.

 
 

I did not know that either i was  always looking at a ton of pages to find something and i was wondering why there wasnt a faster way to do this .Thanks mordy my eyes thank you and the headache i wont  get also !

 

[Edgard Varese]

I'm starting to think one of you strapping advocates could make a little money selling straps to those of us who are DIY challenged...

 

[mordy]

Hi Edgard V,
 
I was also among those DIY challenged, but it really is very easy. What you want to do is to make what looks like a staple, but a staple with insulation in the middle part.
 
You MUST use stranded very thin wire, not solid core. The wire from the ear buds your mother drove over with the car will do. Another good source is a standard modular telephone wire with the clips at each end. I must have two-three dozen of those wires from all the phones that broke over the years.
 
Take a scissors, knife or whatever and cut the plastic sheathing around the wires. Then separate out the wires, black, red, yellow, white etc. Cut off a piece a couple of inches long. Then take a paper and mark off 20mm and 17 mm lengths. Line up the wire and cut it off 20mm and 17 mm long. You need two of each. A scissors will do here, or cutting pliers etc.
 
Then strip 3-4 mm off each end. You really don't need more than that. The best is to use a wire stripper set for the thickness of the wire to avoid cutting off some of the strands. However, if you are careful you can use the scissors, cutting pliers etc (or your teeth? No, not at my age. More on age later...).
 
Now you twirl each end so that the wires stay together and don't open up in every direction. Then just bend each end to make it look like a staple. Voila, you are done! Now look at page 77: Look at the pictures at the bottom.
 
The 20 mm piece is for the 2/7 strap, the 17 mm is for the 1/7 strap. By slightly curving the middle piece you make the middle a tad shorter, and then you can use the 17mm for the 6/7 strap, which will save you from switching the jumpers underneath to the EF92 setting.
 
For me the easiest way to put in the straps is with a precision tweezers. If the straps are the right size, they just drop in. If your fingers have good dexterity, you don't need any tools. Many times you need to give a little push with your finger tip to put the strap in the right place.
 
It is very common for the strap to move out of position when changing tubes, and many times you have to take out the strap and twirl the wires together again as well as straightening out the shape of the strap. Sometimes the straps behave and stay in place - I found that the very softest wire was harder to work with; a little stiffer is better.
 
Now which color wire works the best? Black. Why? At my age I have trouble making out a white wire on the white tube socket; even yellow is a bit hard to see. And when I drop a strap on the floor I can't find it right away many times.... So practice and make a few backups.
 
All suggestions on how to improve on making straps (and critique) are welcome.
 
Have fun!
 
PS: No need to pay for the straps, not hard to do, and I am sure you have the materials sitting around.

 

[TrollDragon]

Nice tip mordy!
Very instructional, I'll have to make up a few for when my 6BE6's finally get here. Canada post distributes all mail by dog sled team's in Nunavut.

One could possibly solder up a set of external switches to the socket tangs for rolling purposes.

I'd like to drill out the rivet in the tube sockets and install some nice LED's, but I know once you took that rivet out the socket would fall apart... Which would keep the garish factor down as well I suppose not adding LED's

 

[Edgard Varese]

Quote:

Hi Edgard V,
 
I was also among those DIY challenged, but it really is very easy. What you want to do is to make what looks like a staple, but a staple with insulation in the middle part.
 
You MUST use stranded very thin wire, not solid core. The wire from the ear buds your mother drove over with the car will do. Another good source is a standard modular telephone wire with the clips at each end. I must have two-three dozen of those wires from all the phones that broke over the years.
 
Take a scissors, knife or whatever and cut the plastic sheathing around the wires. Then separate out the wires, black, red, yellow, white etc. Cut off a piece a couple of inches long. Then take a paper and mark off 20mm and 17 mm lengths. Line up the wire and cut it off 20mm and 17 mm long. You need two of each. A scissors will do here, or cutting pliers etc.
 
Then strip 3-4 mm off each end. You really don't need more than that. The best is to use a wire stripper set for the thickness of the wire to avoid cutting off some of the strands. However, if you are careful you can use the scissors, cutting pliers etc (or your teeth? No, not at my age. More on age later...).
 
Now you twirl each end so that the wires stay together and don't open up in every direction. Then just bend each end to make it look like a staple. Voila, you are done! Now look at page 77: Look at the pictures at the bottom.
 
The 20 mm piece is for the 2/7 strap, the 17 mm is for the 1/7 strap. By slightly curving the middle piece you make the middle a tad shorter, and then you can use the 17mm for the 6/7 strap, which will save you from switching the jumpers underneath to the EF92 setting.
 
For me the easiest way to put in the straps is with a precision tweezers. If the straps are the right size, they just drop in. If your fingers have good dexterity, you don't need any tools. Many times you need to give a little push with your finger tip to put the strap in the right place.
 
It is very common for the strap to move out of position when changing tubes, and many times you have to take out the strap and twirl the wires together again as well as straightening out the shape of the strap. Sometimes the straps behave and stay in place - I found that the very softest wire was harder to work with; a little stiffer is better.
 
Now which color wire works the best? Black. Why? At my age I have trouble making out a white wire on the white tube socket; even yellow is a bit hard to see. And when I drop a strap on the floor I can't find it right away many times.... So practice and make a few backups.
 
All suggestions on how to improve on making straps (and critique) are welcome.
 
Have fun!
 
PS: No need to pay for the straps, not hard to do, and I am sure you have the materials sitting around.

 
That is indeed very helpful Mordy, thank you.   I'm just hoping my fading eyesight (rapidly increasing presbyopia) will allow me to do this without the use of a 150 watt halogen bulb. 

 

[jaywillin]

Quote:

Hi Edgard V,
 
I was also among those DIY challenged, but it really is very easy. What you want to do is to make what looks like a staple, but a staple with insulation in the middle part.
 
You MUST use stranded very thin wire, not solid core. The wire from the ear buds your mother drove over with the car will do. Another good source is a standard modular telephone wire with the clips at each end. I must have two-three dozen of those wires from all the phones that broke over the years.
 
Take a scissors, knife or whatever and cut the plastic sheathing around the wires. Then separate out the wires, black, red, yellow, white etc. Cut off a piece a couple of inches long. Then take a paper and mark off 20mm and 17 mm lengths. Line up the wire and cut it off 20mm and 17 mm long. You need two of each. A scissors will do here, or cutting pliers etc.
 
Then strip 3-4 mm off each end. You really don't need more than that. The best is to use a wire stripper set for the thickness of the wire to avoid cutting off some of the strands. However, if you are careful you can use the scissors, cutting pliers etc (or your teeth? No, not at my age. More on age later...).
 
Now you twirl each end so that the wires stay together and don't open up in every direction. Then just bend each end to make it look like a staple. Voila, you are done! Now look at page 77: Look at the pictures at the bottom.
 
The 20 mm piece is for the 2/7 strap, the 17 mm is for the 1/7 strap. By slightly curving the middle piece you make the middle a tad shorter, and then you can use the 17mm for the 6/7 strap, which will save you from switching the jumpers underneath to the EF92 setting.
 
For me the easiest way to put in the straps is with a precision tweezers. If the straps are the right size, they just drop in. If your fingers have good dexterity, you don't need any tools. Many times you need to give a little push with your finger tip to put the strap in the right place.
 
It is very common for the strap to move out of position when changing tubes, and many times you have to take out the strap and twirl the wires together again as well as straightening out the shape of the strap. Sometimes the straps behave and stay in place - I found that the very softest wire was harder to work with; a little stiffer is better.
 
Now which color wire works the best? Black. Why? At my age I have trouble making out a white wire on the white tube socket; even yellow is a bit hard to see. And when I drop a strap on the floor I can't find it right away many times.... So practice and make a few backups.
 
All suggestions on how to improve on making straps (and critique) are welcome.
 
Have fun!
 
PS: No need to pay for the straps, not hard to do, and I am sure you have the materials sitting around.

indeed mordy thanks, yesterday i spent some time studying 77-79, and page 59 regarding this subject, i'm not sure why, but i was still having a little confusion, or maybe was even intimidated by this whole strapping thing, this helped simplify the whole process
i was straightening up the tubes, and realized i really hadn't listened to the 408's i have, i put the erricson's in, the top end not quite what some of the others are
but the bass sure is well defined and snappy, tuneful, which is a huge plus with the grado ps500
 
and on another note, overnight i decided, even if i like the lyr, i'm keeping the little dot, this is just too much fun !

 

[Edgard Varese]

Quote:

indeed mordy thanks, yesterday i spent some time studying 77-79, and page 59 regarding this subject, i'm not sure why, but i was still having a little confusion, or maybe was even intimidated by this whole strapping thing, this helped simplify the whole process
i was straightening up the tubes, and realized i really hadn't listened to the 408's i have, i put the erricson's in, the top end not quite what some of the others are
but the bass sure is well defined and snappy, tuneful, which is a huge plus with the grado ps500
 
and on another note, overnight i decided, even if i like the lyr, i'm keeping the little dot, this is just too much fun !

You can roll the Lyr too, but as I understand it there are a lot fewer options for tubes, and they are way more expensive than the ones we can use in the Little Dot.

 

[jaywillin]

Quote:

You can roll the Lyr too, but as I understand it there are a lot fewer options for tubes, and they are way more expensive than the ones we can use in the Little Dot.

well, that's what got me thinking last night, a lot more "tuning" options and cheaper, it really was an impulse kinda thing, it wouldn't suprise me, if on down the road, i'll still have the ld 1+, and don't have the lyr, who knows

 

[MIKELAP]

gibosi burning in your Westinghouse 6AV6'S not to impressed so far then again its been a long day .tomorrow another day. Heres a picture looks like older  box .any idea on date theres 935 on tube or should i look on box i saw numbers on flaps                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

[gibosi]

Quote:

gibosi burning in your Westinghouse 6AV6'S not to impressed so far then again its been a long day .tomorrow another day. Heres a picture looks like older  box .any idea on date theres 935 on tube or should i look on box i saw numbers on flaps                                                                                               

 
Do they have square getters? Or halo getters? My best guess: 935 + 1959, week 35, especially if they have square getters. Either way, I agree that these are relatively old, the 1950s and 60s.
 
And since they are "mine", I sure hope they sound better tomorrow! lol

 

[siles1991]

Quote:

 
The HY90 is a rectifier, so no go. It was designed to be used in power supplies. The 6AN5 should work fine in the EF95 setting with no strapping required. To my knowledge no one has tried to these yet....

if you dont mind me asking what are the guidelines on whether the tubes can be used or not?

 

[mordy]

Hi Edgard V,
 
I did not mention that I use a small high intensity CREE LED flashlight when the need arises to see clearly where to put those little straps.
 
Let me now how it goes with the straps.
 
Good luck,
 
 
Mordy