[bcowen]

I am beginning to see why Schiit sources their Tubes from Russia...

Isn't that the guy that invented Gorilla Glue?

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

it is easy to spend $2400 on speakers alone

Well. I bought Edifier S3000Pro amplified monitors with BT AptX HD. I paid $600. I am feeding the output of vali 2 into an AptX HD transmitter > to the speakers. The results are very, very good to my ears.

 

[bcowen]

The Vali 2 is a fun little amp but all things are relative and it is easy to spend $2400 on speakers alone,

It's easy to spend $2400 on a pair of interconnects. Entry level, of course.

 

[bcowen]

There be adapter here. Now it's time for @Paladin79 's hearing test. LOL!!

A couple HalfenFrank 7A4's ready to go. One labeled TungSol, one labeled Sylvania, both identical internally (and both likely made by Sylvania). These are the rectangle bottom mica versions with the Frankentop. The round bottom mica version with the more rounded bottle top is next. If they turn out to be awesome I'll report back next week....after I've stashed up.

 

[Paladin79]

You will love them, just try not to subject them to Marilyn Manson too early. Those tubes come from the big band era and will probably withdraw if you scare them with your normal music. Notice about all you can see is the bottom mica? That is why I could not answer too many questions about them, a great deal is hidden behind the silver shroud.

 

[bcowen]

You will love them, just try not to subject them to Marilyn Manson too early. Those tubes come from the big band era and will probably withdraw if you scare them with your normal music. Notice about all you can see is the bottom mica? That is why I could not answer too many questions about them, a great deal is hidden behind the silver shroud.

You mean the faint (but still legible) "MM" printed under the EIA code isn't Marilyn Manson? Crap. Not even worth bothering with now.

 

[Nastrahl]

Well. I bought Edifier S3000Pro amplified monitors with BT AptX HD. I paid $600. I am feeding the output of vali 2 into an AptX HD transmitter > to the speakers. The results are very, very good to my ears.

Your Vali 2 that has already converted signal to analogic feeds an transmitter that, if I'm not wrong about BT's spec, only transmit numeric ones so you got signal convered 2 or 3 times (depending of the source)?

 

[Paladin79]

You mean the faint (but still legible) "MM" printed under the EIA code isn't Marilyn Manson? Crap. Not even worth bothering with now.

In my 1951 Sylvania tube manual it states that the 7A4 is similar to the 6j5GT but gives improved performance especially at the higher frequencies, due to lock-in type of construction. This construction results in shorter leads, lower capacitances, and lower bass losses. (The Lock-in construction is their term for loktal I would think.)

An amplification factor of 20, plate resistance of 7700 ohm.

I sought these out for a reason. I will see what I can find on the VT-192 version it has the nearly half circle bottom mica.

Bill, your first listen should be limited to something out of your neck of the woods. Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show, then maybe move up to the Darius Rucker version.

For high frequency test, try to locate Our Best by Andrew Winton, I know you like bass but high frequencies on these tubes are golden.

For bass and separation, look for Palestine Texas by T-Bone Burnett. For bass recovery, 2007 remaster of Night Time in the Switching Yard by Warren Zevon.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

Your Vali 2 that has already converted signal to analogic feeds an transmitter that, if I'm not wrong about BT's spec, only transmit numeric ones so you got signal convered 2 or 3 times (depending of the source)?

Yeah. I know. I should have drawn RCA cables from Vali 2 outputs. I maybe will. But for now, it works fine. Yes, multiple coding. So what - as you will see most of the people here who roll tubes are insane and have ideas way beyond technically sound engineering. Welcome to the club, and think well before you decide to stay - not good for neither sanity nor pocket

 

[Paladin79]

Some of it is decent engineering, many of the tubes we are using are just older versions of current tubes or sets of single triode tubes instead of dual triode. Now without mentioning any names, (Bill) some pay close attention to the shape of the top of the tube and micas and such but that is probably more fetish than insanity, well maybe both. What a person does in the privacy of his tube dungeon is his own business and between him, his maker and the laws of North Carolina.

 

[bcowen]

...people here who roll tubes are insane and have ideas way beyond technically sound engineering.

@Ripper2860 , I think he's referring to you.

 

[bcowen]

Some of it is decent engineering, many of the tubes we are using are just older versions of current tubes or sets of single triode tubes instead of dual triode. Now without mentioning any names, (Bill) some pay close attention to the shape of the top of the tube and micas and such but that is probably more fetish than insanity, well maybe both. What a person does in the privacy of his tube dungeon is his own business and between him, his maker and the laws of North Carolina.

Actually as a departure from my normal approach, the construction details only became part of my analysis when I first started playing with 7N7's. The first two pair I got were short bottles, one labeled TungSol and the other CBS. On first listen, pretty meh. Then I ran across that tall bottle Lansdale labeled tube, and holy schiit batman....it blew my socks off (and I wasn't even wearing any at the time). Ordered another tall bottle (Sylvania labeled I think), and it was right back to meh. So What was it with this Lansdale tube that made it stand head and shoulders above the rest? Lansdale didn't make it, Sylvania did. That's when I really started looking at the inner construction details that led to the Frankie particulars -- the square bottle, the racetrack bottom mica, the parallel plates, flashing of 3/4 of the bottle, etc. Any of the subsequent 7N7's I bought that had ALL those details sounded awesome. And those that didn't, well didn't. Particular year (or years) of manufacture? Probably. But what's a fact is that every 7N7 I've purchased (regardless of brand marking) that matches the Frankie details sounds great, and all the others are, well, not exactly. Some people go nuts over the tiniest detail of what constitutes a real Sylvania Bad Boy. Not me. I'd never be anywhere near that obsessive.

 

[Mr Trev]

I totally want these in my Vali2…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EIMAC-304TL-Pair-of-Vacuum-Tubes-Sockets-NOS-NIB-VT129-304TL/173875430859

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

@Ripper2860 , I think he's referring to you.

Please, please, easy on this. I did not have anyone individual in mind - I referred to tube rolling as a collective, anonymous insanity.

 

[Paladin79]

Please, please, easy on this. I did not have anyone individual in mind - I referred to tube rolling as a collective, anonymous insanity.

I was kidding around as was Bill I am sure. I know these guys a bit and we are friends. Well I am sort of friends with Bill depending on the price on some tubes of his I currently have in a Cary amp.

Tom