[triod750]

I wonder which of the 2 La Radiotechnique factories manufactured that EL39 all are speaking about.

You mean if it was Chartres or Suresnes?

 

[OctavianH]

You mean if it was Chartres or Suresnes?

Yes, from my understanding, Chartres and Suresnes are 2 factories in different cities of the same manufacturer called La Radiotechnique. The Chartres is, for sure, a terrible type of sound. I was not able to obtain decent results with these EL41 and the plan is to put them as fast as I can in the storage. But Suresnes, at least on my pair of EL82, was not so bad. Well, not good either, but at least not bad. Now the question is, that EL39 all love was made where? I expect Suresnes (F-code).

I tried even to pair them with Cossor 6C5 which many consider was manufactured by Brimar. That's neutral, relatively sharp, good sound in general, but could not fix the Chartres sound. It's warm, slow, fuzzy, rounded on both ends. What to say, Rockna Wavelight was sounding the same when added in my chain and since people are paying 5000 EUR for it, it has to please someone. For sure not me, I'm not into R2R DACs.

It's true these saved a little bit from the problems, but with this kind of signature, you fix one thing and break another.

 

[triod750]

As often.

 

[OctavianH]

You mean if it was Chartres or Suresnes?

Yes. But I found here the answer:

This is an F-code tube. See the base. So it's Suresnes.

 

[triod750]

I tried an ECC40 from Suresnes that wasn't too bad. The others I have are better in my amp but this F-code version wasn't that bad. If I had tried that one first I might have liked it. As always, it's about synergy. I have never found synergy with any Chartres tubes so I have stopped trying. Might be a mistake but saves money and time.

 

[OctavianH]

I tried an ECC40 from Suresnes that wasn't too bad. The others I have are better in my amp but this F-code version wasn't that bad. If I had tried that one first I might have liked it. As always, it's about synergy. I have never found synergy with any Chartres tubes so I have stopped trying. Might be a mistake but saves money and time.

I agree with you. My Adzam EL82 with F-code were interesting, even if not on top of my preference list. However, I never found a ±-code tube that I like.

 

[OctavianH]

I found my F-code ECC40, it seems it had CIFTE logo but got almost deleted because of use. It also has a D-getter.

Here is a detailed photo made when I got it:

PS. Franziskaner Royal is damn good. I like the house sound of Franziskaner, enhances audio quality for sure. LOL

 

[triod750]

And I like the engineering of that tube. Some tubes you can have for looks.

 

[OctavianH]

All rimlock tubes are special. These are the ones I keep close:

• 5 types of ECC40 (Sittard, Eindhoven, Hamburg, Suresnes and Tungsram which I have no idea where it was made)
• Mullard EL42
• Philips EL41 metal base

I have also other types, which I bring into attention when needed. Very special tubes. One day I will have an amp for them.

 

[triod750]

One day I will have an amp for them.

!!!!

 

[OctavianH]

Taking a break from rimlocks I went to the true kings. Honestly, experience is breathtaking. When I first heard a passage with piano I realized how other tubes cannot compete with these. Acoustical music, vocals and piano are definitely favoured by this combo. Electrical guitar is, as always, problematic and an idea dry but still sounds decent and the rest is overwhelming. How far are these ahead of everything else. On complex passages everything is distributed on the stage and somehow resolved separately. While other tubes are crowding all instruments on one place, EL50 is putting them in different places and then let's you hear each of them in its position.

My only problem with this combo is the dry electrical guitar, an idea too smooth, but I will try to fix that with a larger variety of EL3N and equivalents on inputs. But about that, on the next episode.

 

[OctavianH]

!!!!

Yes, I plan to have one day the following amplifiers:

• EL41/42 + ECC40 rimlock + rectifier (also rimlock, under evaluation)
• 807 + 76 + rectifier (or not)
• the European Pentode Tribute Amp (my endgame and the end of all my research)

Of course, most probably, these will never be built. But even in that case, it's good to think about them. All plans are following a specific period and socket.

 

[triod750]

Yes, I plan to have one day the following amplifiers:

• EL41/42 + ECC40 rimlock + rectifier (also rimlock, under evaluation)
• 807 + 76 + rectifier (or not)
• the European Pentode Tribute Amp (my endgame and the end of all my research)

Of course, most probably, these will never be built. But even in that case, it's good to think about them. All plans are following a specific period and socket.

A brilliant plan!

 

[OctavianH]

A brilliant plan!

And it should remain a plan. Plans are good, help me think in an organised manner. But there is no real justification to invest in such an amp, since I have one using all of those. More than this, building an amp for a specific tube is a mistake I have made once. You know what they say about the ones who make the same mistake twice.

 

[LobalWarming]

And it should remain a plan. Plans are good, help me think in an organised manner. But there is no real justification to invest in such an amp, since I have one using all of those. More than this, building an amp for a specific tube is a mistake I have made once. You know what they say about the ones who make the same mistake twice.

Yes... they try harder... no, that's not it... they have poor hand eye coordination... no... it's umm... maybe they're determined and never give up... or they're just stubborn.