[Ableza]

A good friend who works for a major record company in Los Angeles said it may spell the end for new vinyl releases - or at least for all but expensive boutique releases.

 

[33na3rd]

A good friend who works for a major record company in Los Angeles said it may spell the end for new vinyl releases - or at least for all but expensive boutique releases.

I think it may disrupt the new LP market for at least a couple of years. I wouldn't be surprised if DMM, Direct Metal Mastering, gets some renewed attention.

 

[dieslemat]

I'm guessing vinyls will be more expensive

 

[leonthebumme]

Clean the tube pins for sure, Deoxit makes some fine products but starting with isopropyl might let you know if cleaning is an issue. If you are dealing with Russian tubes from the 50’s or 60’s they have solder issues that I can talk to you about outside the thread. If it is not either of those issues then the a tube may be developing microphony, mechanical vibration leading to electrical noise. I do not reflow solder in Russian tubes, I remove the old and replace it to prevent future issues.

I just gave the tube pins a cleaning with 99% isopropyl and noticed that a couple of the pins are a tiny bit wobbly on one of my tubes, a relatively new Northern Electric 6SN7. All the rest of the tubes have pins rock solid in place.

I'm worried what might happen if I remove a tube and a pin breaks off inside the Freya...Is it no problem if pins have a little movement in them? Or could this be causing the scratchy sounds? If so, what is the remedy? Thanks!

 

[Paladin79]

I just gave the tube pins a cleaning with 99% isopropyl and noticed that a couple of the pins are a tiny bit wobbly on one of my tubes, a relatively new Northern Electric 6SN7. All the rest of the tubes have pins rock solid in place.

I'm worried what might happen if I remove a tube and a pin breaks off inside the Freya...Is it no problem if pins have a little movement in them? Or could this be causing the scratchy sounds? If so, what is the remedy? Thanks!

Sorry it has been a while, what brand of tube has the wobbly pins? I have never replaced the pins and tube base but that could be a solution if it is an extremely valuable tube. Personally I would try a dab of epoxy at the base of the pin to stop the wobbling and I would most likely have replaced the solder inside the pins to see if that helped. If you are talking about a $10-$20 tube I would probably just get another tube.

 

[leonthebumme]

Sorry it has been a while, what brand of tube has the wobbly pins? I have never replaced the pins and tube base but that could be a solution if it is an extremely valuable tube. Personally I would try a dab of epoxy at the base of the pin to stop the wobbling and I would most likely have replaced the solder inside the pins to see if that helped. If you are talking about a $10-$20 tube I would probably just get another tube.

It's a fairly new Northern Electric 6SN7 tube, not super cheap, and I love the sound. I am not familiar with tube repair...how do you replace solder inside a pin? You mean the pins themselves aren't soldered to the tube base?

 

[Paladin79]

It's a fairly new Northern Electric 6SN7 tube, not super cheap, and I love the sound. I am not familiar with tube repair...how do you replace solder inside a pin? You mean the pins themselves aren't soldered to the tube base?

Some of the pins have solid wire extending down inside them, you have to be able to remove the old solder, and then apply liquid rosin and new solder. That is my technique anyway and I have had very good luck on Russian tubes doing that. This is probably not the best discussion for this thread so if you want to PM me, maybe tomorrow I can show you photos of the process. I would offer to check out the tube and re-solder the pins if you like but there would be no charge associated with that and I would pay shipping back to you. It would take me less time to go through the process, than explain it.

I have not tried a Northern Electric tube before and this could be my chance lol. I do have a tube tester course and a fairly complete electronics shop. You can certainly ask around, you would get your tube back in good shape but that looks like a newer production tube to me, so I make no guarantees about the re-solder fixing it. I checked a few tube bases of that type that I have around here and the pins do move a little in those as well but not enough to cause issues.

 

[Xcalibur255]

@leonthebumme

If you find yourself needing to replace it then you can track down a TJ Full Music or the older non-blue glass Sophia Electric 6SN7. They are all the same tube, made by Tianjin.

In my experience a slightly loose pin on tubes with plastic style bases isn't necessarily a problem as long as you're careful with them. If they keep getting looser then I would worry.

edit: actually I think I remember reading that the factory is going to discontinue making many of their smaller tubes, so anybody who likes these might want to grab their backups now. Apparently the company founder passed and the people inheriting the business are needing to be convinced to not just walk away from the whole thing.

 

[Paladin79]

Here is one of those bases unattached if that helps.

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

@Jason Stoddard , I see that Schiit no longer sells USB bridge Eitr. Is there going to be new and improved "Unison USB bridge" in the near future, or have you guys stopped making USB bridges completely?

I still see a use case for the Eitr though that isn't covered by what's currently available, and that is hooking up two devices which only have USB output to the same DAC.
While puzzling over how to configure my setup and how to hook up my computer whole also hooking up a ROON server, I frequently thought about using an Eitr for that scenario.

In the end I didn't put together the system in such a way and didn't buy an Eitr, but for future would still like to be able to add it...
I just can't justify the purchase now for "just in case I might ever need it".

 

[audio philestine]

I still see a use case for the Eitr though that isn't covered by what's currently available, and that is hooking up two devices which only have USB output to the same DAC.
While puzzling over how to configure my setup and how to hook up my computer whole also hooking up a ROON server, I frequently thought about using an Eitr for that scenario.

In the end I didn't put together the system in such a way and didn't buy an Eitr, but for future would still like to be able to add it...
I just can't justify the purchase now for "just in case I might ever need it".

Hi, I'm that little devil floating over your shoulder and making suggestions you don't want to hear...

Eitr's are still available on the b-stock page https://www.schiit.com/b-stocks , but once they're gone, they're gone...

Go on, you know you want one.....

 

[Tim van der Leeuw]

Hi, I'm that little devil floating over your shoulder and making suggestions you don't want to hear...

Eitr's are still available on the b-stock page https://www.schiit.com/b-stocks , but once they're gone, they're gone...

Go on, you know you want one.....

115V ... I need a 230V adapter... Anyway I don't need one _right now_ so I can't justify the expense to myself now for the hypotethical case I want one in the future.

 

[yonson]

Hi, I'm that little devil floating over your shoulder and making suggestions you don't want to hear...

Eitr's are still available on the b-stock page https://www.schiit.com/b-stocks , but once they're gone, they're gone...

Go on, you know you want one.....

I bought a Wyrd for this reason, if I didn't already have an Eitr I'd buy one of those too... Bummed I missed out on JIL, I didn't realize they were going away until it was too late.

 

[wout31]

I bought a Wyrd for this reason, if I didn't already have an Eitr I'd buy one of those too... Bummed I missed out on JIL, I didn't realize they were going away until it was too late.

You can still buy one in The Netherlands. I'm sure Schiit can provide a 115-16V wall wart for you instead of the 230V supplied.

 

[tafens]

Some of the pins have solid wire extending down inside them, you have to be able to remove the old solder, and then apply liquid rosin and new solder. That is my technique anyway and I have had very good luck on Russian tubes doing that. This is probably not the best discussion for this thread so if you want to PM me, maybe tomorrow I can show you photos of the process. I would offer to check out the tube and re-solder the pins if you like but there would be no charge associated with that and I would pay shipping back to you. It would take me less time to go through the process, than explain it.

That would actually make a great blog post, “How to resolder vintage tubes” (or something like that). With all the pictures, instructions, explanations, story, anecdotes, etc, etc