[mordy]

Hi stvn 758,
 
For most tubes a burn in time of 30-40 hours should be enough. Some hi-fi manufacturers of high end equipment routinely burn in tubes for 48 hours.

 

[mordy]

Hi buldogge,
 
I have bought a number of inexpensive lots on Ebay with generally good results. Once you want to try a new tube family, a bunch of different used ones is a lot of fun to try out. In my experience it is rare to get non working tubes.
 
A tube that doesn't measure new may still have a lot of life in it. IMHO all you may need to do is to turn up the volume a little more. Once you find what you like, you may want to buy NOS tubes.
 
As far as I know, different tube testers give very different values and the measurements are often not directly comparable to each other. There seems to be much debate about the accuracy as well. The best and most accurate testers are very expensive and need to be professionally calibrated as well.
 
Let your ears be the judge.....

 

[mordy]

Hi lagigia,
 
Try one each in each socket and see if you can hear the difference in each channel on a monophonic recording. Both tubes are good, but there are better choices, such as the Ei 6HM5.

 

[buldogge]

Thanx Mordy...I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it performs.  I was wondering whether it would create a channel imbalance, since I will be using (2)...
 
-Mark
 
Quote:

  Hi buldogge,
 
I have bought a number of inexpensive lots on Ebay with generally good results. Once you want to try a new tube family, a bunch of different used ones is a lot of fun to try out. In my experience it is rare to get non working tubes.
 
A tube that doesn't measure new may still have a lot of life in it. IMHO all you may need to do is to turn up the volume a little more. Once you find what you like, you may want to buy NOS tubes.
 
As far as I know, different tube testers give very different values and the measurements are often not directly comparable to each other. There seems to be much debate about the accuracy as well. The best and most accurate testers are very expensive and need to be professionally calibrated as well.
 
Let your ears be the judge.....

 

[lagigia]

Hi Mordy,
something better?! Oh boy, I trusted the reviews on the first page and I bought the top EF95 model. Was I wrong?
 
Anyway, I'll do as you suggested and I'll look for a quality mono source... something on youtube?

 

[gibosi]

  Do you guys ever buy tube lots off eBay that are untested?
 
Obviously it's a gamble...but I'm thinking $10 for 3-4-or-5 tubes might be worth a play...???
 

 
I agree with Mordy on this. If the price is right, that is cheap, I often buy bunches of cheap tubes off eBay. It is very rare that I get a dud and very importantly, it allows me to 'taste" the flavor of tubes I have no experience with on the cheap. And when I find tubes I really like, then I am more willing to spend a bit more to get tubes that test NOS or near NOS.  

 

[Jolfr]

  Hi Mordy,
something better?! Oh boy, I trusted the reviews on the first page and I bought the top EF95 model. Was I wrong?
 
Anyway, I'll do as you suggested and I'll look for a quality mono source... something on youtube?

I would definitely choose FLAC to listen to, especially if you're looking for small differences. Then use Foobar2000 to play the tracks in mono. 

 

[Mojo777]

  Hi jaywillin,
 
Here is a link to a pair of socket extenders:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-9-PIN-TUBE-SOCKET-SAVER-FOR-12AX7-12AU7-ECC82-ECC83-tube-amp-audio-DIY-part-/161584664637?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item259f32503d
 
Here is a link to the octal to 9pin adapters:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191082280257?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
$4.29 + $18.31x2 - $2 combined shipping = $38.91
 
Here is a starter pair of Sylvania 6SN7 tubes with the bidding starting on $7. (There are a lots of choices - this is just one example)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-6SN7-GTA-Sylvania-Tubes-Used-/141564857510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f5ec4ca6

thanks a bunch, i'm new to this
 
looks like the last piece of the puzzle is a pair of EI 6HM5, where do you source those?

 

[adtrance]

  thanks a bunch, i'm new to this
 
looks like the last piece of the puzzle is a pair of EI 6HM5, where do you source those?

Tall bottle IE 6HM5:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/6HM5-6HA5-EC900-export-quality-audio-triode-tube-NOS-FREE-SHIPPING-/300879467071 

 

[MIKELAP]

 

  Hi jaywillin,
 
Here is a link to a pair of socket extenders:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-9-PIN-TUBE-SOCKET-SAVER-FOR-12AX7-12AU7-ECC82-ECC83-tube-amp-audio-DIY-part-/161584664637?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item259f32503d
 
Here is a link to the octal to 9pin adapters:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191082280257?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
$4.29 + $18.31x2 - $2 combined shipping = $38.91
 
Here is a starter pair of Sylvania 6SN7 tubes with the bidding starting on $7. (There are a lots of choices - this is just one example)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pair-6SN7-GTA-Sylvania-Tubes-Used-/141564857510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f5ec4ca6

thanks a bunch, i'm new to this
 
looks like the last piece of the puzzle is a pair of EI 6HM5, where do you source those?

Or here you want the tall bottles       http://www.ebay.com/itm/251611916081?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[stvn758]

  Hi stvn 758,
 
For most tubes a burn in time of 30-40 hours should be enough. Some hi-fi manufacturers of high end equipment routinely burn in tubes for 48 hours.

Thanks, these Yugoslav ones certainly gave me a jump.

 

[lagigia]

  I would definitely choose FLAC to listen to, especially if you're looking for small differences. Then use Foobar2000 to play the tracks in mono. 

 
Thanks mate!

 

[Acapella11]

  Thanks mate!

 
If you want to use an alternative good player in Stereo, Musicbee is excellent, and switch to playback via WASAPI, that circumvents sound altering influences from Windows.

 

[Acapella11]

  Had some time this evening to compare the three 6463 - GE (relabeled by Sylvania), Philips (Heerlen) and Telefunken (Ulms).
 
Interestingly, I found the GE and Philips were quite similar. Both have a rather lush midrange, but the Philips has a bit more upper bass/lower midrange warmth whereas the GE is a bit livelier with more air. While listening to these tubes, I thought I could be happy with either one.  However, when I added the Telefunken to the mix, I changed my mind. With an LD1+ running a MUSES02 op amp and listening through Senns 700s, the Telefunken is better, to my ears.
 
I believe the lushness of the GE and Philips masks too much detail. Vocals on theTelefunken on the other hand seem cleaner, while still having good warmth and body, very similar to my reference 1975 Reflektor 6N23P. And as a result this tube has excellent transparency and detail. One of the real strengths of the 700s is imaging, and when paired with a tube as transparent as the Telefunken, I can easily pick out all the vocalists and instruments, from front to back and side to side.
 
Highly recommended.

 
Almost missed that one. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Acapella11]

   
Well spent some time with the new Little Dot Mk9 now, thoughts so far:
 
Well I'll cut straight to one conclusion, this is a nice upgrade to a LD III, IV or IVse with rolled tubes (say C3Gs and 5687 / 6SN7GT premium combinations). So yes it is a far better amp than basic or rolled baby LD and one that I am very fond of now.
 
So a little more detail about the LD Mk9:
 
...  
So this amp runs cheap tubes, has only 1x 6SL7GT and 2x 6080 / 6AS7Gs and will drive most things. So how does it perform?
 
Well considering this amp has been around for a few years now, I am amazed that more has not been written about it. I found one reference to it humming on the internet. My example is dead quiet and I mean really quiet. It does not have the romance of the OTL driving 600 ohm headphones (few do) but has a wonderful even nature. Unlike most of my amplifiers which drive one type of phone (big OTL fan), this amp has a decent stab at most of them. It won’t drive an HE6 but little does (properly) and LD have their VI+ for that anyway. So it is a great all-rounder, and when properly loaded with the quality tubes  it makes great sounds without being a power house. In fact my AKG 240DFs never have sounded better. At it’s price, I think it makes great value and I really am struck by how few people know about it. This certainly does not make any sense given it’s quality.
 
I now see this as well above the level of the LD III, IV or IVse (even fully rolled / adapters galore) and more as a baby VI+ (though I haven’t heard this yet). There is just way too much similarity in how they are designed to disniss the similarity. The big brother is now firmly on my wants list. List from David Z is $459 for the Little Dot Mk9 which puts it into an interesting area that is sparsely populated for affordable valve amp that are cheap to run. Perhaps the obvious competition will be the Elise but that is an OTL, used 2x of the more expensive 6SN7GTs and same output tubes. Both look very interesting propositions and I may be the first to own both I don’t see it as one being better than the other  but more similar priced amps aiming at different markets but similar tubes / form factor. It will make an interesting shoot off however.
 
All told, one fine performing amp, keenly priced that is cheap to run.

 
Seems, I didn't read page 600 at all! This is amazing information on an amp hardly anyone looked at. I would suggest to start your own thread to enlighten more people.
 
Edit: Could you quantify how much much of a step up this is from the best LD IV configuration you know and where the differences are, e.g. in terms of transparency, frequency extension etc.?