And there are a lot of links in the audio chain that might be different from user to user so your way to synergy and my way to synergy might be very different even if the outcome might be almost the same.
Tube rolling thread | UltraSonic Studios
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LobalWarming
Headphoneus Supremus
Or... in my case... chinks in the audio chain, which are uniquely different.
Mr. Lobal, I have no clue which is your daily job or if you are retired, but if you start to make stand up comedy, you will be rich. Well, since you have 8 pairs of EC86 you already are so ...Or... in my case... chinks in the audio chain, which are uniquely different.
But, today is the day, I will remove the EL50 to test EL41 and I guess I'll do it with E88CC.
The french pair branded "DARIO" from right should not be bought, sounds terrible. The ones from middle are excellent and the one from left, I expect would be.
Edit:
These Telefunken EL41 are extremely good, but are most probably Loewe Opta, made in a Philips factory, as Gibosi said. The complete discussion is here.
I have just put them after Philips EL50 and sound excellent, very dynamic, EL41 is known for that, tight bass. It is hard for me to make a comparison before I'll put the Telefunkens on it and I have them near, but I know from the start one thing, these are very good sounding. And my instinct tells me are not Telefunken because they do not have that bass and soft mids, are more "sharp" sounding. I will see, maybe I will challenge them with the mighty Philips metal base. It is hard to put something against those, are for me a reference in this "musical" sound of EL41/EL84/EL51/4689. I put all of these in the same box, for me are musical tubes while "reference" are 4654/EL50. Of course, a personal view, what is reference in the end? Reference to what? All is personal here.
What matters is that I am again impressed about these EL41. Very good tubes. I'll put again the detailed photo.
Dark smoked glass, the very best quality. Never be afraid of these, rimlocks look burnt but sound terrible (aka GOOD).
When a tube in the first hours looks like this is a keeper. I've seen from the first moment that dark glass, older. These are the best of the best. Believe me.
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gibosi
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Mr. Lobal, I have no clue which is your daily job or if you are retired, but if you start to make stand up comedy, you will be rich. Well, since you have 8 pairs of EC86 you already are so ...
But, today is the day, I will remove the EL50 to test EL41 and I guess I'll do it with E88CC.
The french pair branded "DARIO" from right should not be bought, sounds terrible. The ones from middle are excellent and the one from left, I expect would be.
Edit:
These Telefunken EL41 are extremely good, but are most probably Loewe Opta, made in a Philips factory, as Gibosi said. The complete discussion is here.
I have just put them after Philips EL50 and sound excellent, very dynamic, EL41 is known for that, tight bass. It is hard for me to make a comparison before I'll put the Telefunkens on it and I have them near, but I know from the start one thing, these are very good sounding. And my instinct tells me are not Telefunken because they do not have that bass and soft mids, are more "sharp" sounding. I will see, maybe I will challenge them with the mighty Philips metal base. It is hard to put something against those, are for me a reference in this "musical" sound of EL41/EL84/EL51/4689. I put all of these in the same box, for me are musical tubes while "reference" are 4654/EL50. Of course, a personal view, what is reference in the end? Reference to what? All is personal here.
What matters is that I am again impressed about these EL41. Very good tubes. I'll put again the detailed photo.
Dark smoked glass, the very best quality. Never be afraid of these, rimlocks look burnt but sound terrible (aka GOOD).
When a tube in the first hours looks like this is a keeper. I've seen from the first moment that dark glass, older. These are the best of the best. Believe me.
And again an edit, I am who I am, now off topic.
In order to properly assess these EL41 we need some help from the beer gods and also the heavy metal ones. So I'll take the path of some english stout and the viking heavy metal gods from Sweden: Hammerfall!.
These limited edition of their first 2 albums are excellent. They really changed the heavy metal scene in those days. A good reminder to buy some tickets for their upcoming show in the summer. Hammerfall!
For those who might want to explore the Loewe Opta sound a bit further, Loewe Opta also made the EL3N and EL11. Again look for the factory code "G". I have a pair of each and they sound about the same to my old ears.
LobalWarming
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks for the career encouragement! Web dev is my normal job... my motto is, if I can't make the client happy, at least I can make them chuckle a little.
Only 6 pairs of Siemens E86Cs now - gave a pair away. They're still so cheap compared to grail glass.
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
For those who might want to explore the Loewe Opta sound a bit further, Loewe Opta also made the EL3N and EL11. Again look for the factory code "G". I have a pair of each and they sound about the same to my old but wise ears.
I have around a pair of EBL1 with "G" code on the base. This one:For those who might want to explore the Loewe Opta sound a bit further, Loewe Opta also made the EL3N and EL11. Again look for the factory code "G". I have a pair of each and they sound about the same to my old ears.
I cannot say I know a lot about the Loewe Opta sound but in my view they go towards a neutral clean sound, nothing tubey around. Some might find these unengaging, in my view are quite honest and transparent sounding tubes without the fatiguing part, so are fine in my book.
I spent yesterday some time with the EL41 pair, I quite like it. Of course, cannot win against the Philips metal base foil getter one but this was expected.
Another edit, this time about a new tube type. I wanted to listen to this one for a long time, but I never found time for it and when I found a few pieces I was aleady focusing on another types. This weekend, since I was already listening to something new, those EL41 I spoke about earlier, I considered a good moment to try them. The tube type is EC92, it is supposed to be a half of ECC81/12AT7. And the exact version was a Siemens EC92 looking like this:
Date codes are VH5/≠1D. So nothing special, or old, seems a newer revision of this tube. But even in this case, soundwise is very nice.
As every pair of single triodes vs an equivalent double triode in the same bottle, these sound wider and maybe with incresed separation. This is similar for EC90/6C4 vs 12AU7 and even my recent tries with EC86 vs E88CC (which might not be electrical equivalent but in my view sound close).
So now the 1M$ question: Why we read so less about EC92/6AB4 on thesee threads? This should be a much more famous tube type.
Solid ratings:
PS. I used them with my 6C4 adapters because pinout is very close, work perfectly here.
PS2. I found that in June 2023, thanks to Mr. Lobal, I was looking into EC92. What to say, it took me 2 years to try one, this is what I call efficiency.
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Isaacc7
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Had my first tube problem since my amp got fixed. I’ve been using some used but tested vt60 tubes for quite a while. The other day I lost sound on the right side. Figured out that one of the output fuses had blown. Odd, it didn't make any noise when it blew. Replaced the fuse and everything was fine. Repeated the process the next day. I guess there is something going on with that tube. Replaced that tube with another I got from the same buy and everything has been fine for a couple of days. I have had multiple issues with vt60 tubes both used and NOS. Two have a loose top cap, one is noisy, and two have failed. Luckily I bought a bunch lol.
I’ve been using the 6bs7 inputs this whole time. They have been doing a great job reproducing space and detail. I’ve noticed it most with acoustic instruments. I’ve also been able to really notice the sound of mics and recording techniques with spoken stuff in YouTube. Think the next input tubes I’ll try are some Ericsson 407a. I really like the Ericsson 18aq5, hope these impress as well.
I’ve been using the 6bs7 inputs this whole time. They have been doing a great job reproducing space and detail. I’ve noticed it most with acoustic instruments. I’ve also been able to really notice the sound of mics and recording techniques with spoken stuff in YouTube. Think the next input tubes I’ll try are some Ericsson 407a. I really like the Ericsson 18aq5, hope these impress as well.
I suppose you are speaking of VT.60 here, not VT-60?
Isaacc7
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I have the same tubes labeled vt60, vt60a, ats25, and 807. I guess there is a vt-60 tube that is different.
That's what I thought. It says VT.60A on your tube. On mine it only says VT.60. VT-60 is the same as civilian 850 and VT-100 is the civilian 807.
Isaacc7
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Yes, several equivalents. I have one with 'TYPE 807' and a K below and that 'up arrow'. This is in grey, not easy to see.
If you go here https://www.sm5cbw.se/tubes/index.htm and click on 8xx and the choose 807 to the left you will find a lot of designations.
Edit.
Just read this at the Valve Museum:
If you go here https://www.sm5cbw.se/tubes/index.htm and click on 8xx and the choose 807 to the left you will find a lot of designations.
Edit.
Just read this at the Valve Museum:
The CV1572 is a beam tetrode based on the commercial 807.
The old RAF service code is VT60A.
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Isaacc7
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Have you seen this article by them? http://www.r-type.org/addtext/add029.htm
They say the vt60 was an Ediswan production made to correct the problems of other British 807 copies.
Yes, Octavian has pointed me to this previously. Some factors might not be that important for our comparably light use of them. Maybe.
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