[TonyNewman]

Just a suggestion before ordering from Woo Audio. I'm using 6SN7's from Sophia Electric and I think that they're an outstanding tube with way above average value for your money. They'll be as close to perfectly matched as you can get and they come with a decent warranty. It wouldn't hurt to give them a call. I believe I saved myself a lot of pesos getting new tubes. Just my $0.02 as always.

 
If you like the Sophia 6SN7s (and I like them also) you might want to try the TJ Full Music 6SN7.
 
Same tube from the same factory, but without the Sophia QA hype and mark up. Available for around $120 for a matched pair vs $200 for a pair from Sophia.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181309393836?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[bonesnv]

   
If you like the Sophia 6SN7s (and I like them also) you might want to try the TJ Full Music 6SN7.
 
Same tube from the same factory, but without the Sophia QA hype and mark up. Available for around $120 for a matched pair vs $200 for a pair from Sophia.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181309393836?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 
Aren't the TJ tubes made in the Shuguang factory, or are Sophia's also made their as well?

 

[TonyNewman]

   
Aren't the TJ tubes made in the Shuguang factory, or are Sophia's also made their as well?

 
Sorry - couldn't tell you which factory - but it is the same factory and the same tube.
 
This article explains it a lot better than I can.
 
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/sophia-electric-royal-princess-300b-output-tube-an-examination-of-provenance-quality-and-production-costs-in-the-murky-world-of-audio-tube-manufacture/
 
Interesting that some of the tubes are unique to Sophia, like the SERP, others like the 6SN7s are re-badged TJ with extra QA.
 
It is up to the consumer to decide if the extra QA is worth the price bump (from $120 to $200 for the 6SN7s). I have a pair of TJ 6SN7s on the way to me now - I will be very surprised if I notice any sonic difference between these and the Sophia's - but you never know until you try.

 

[joseph69]

The 6SN7's are my favorite tubes. I have a few different brands of NOS, and there is definitely differences between them…my favorites are the 60's Brown Base Sylvania 6SN7WGTA's due to the rich warm sound I get with the WA6/RS1i.

 

[bpcans]

Am selling a pair if anyone's interested.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/733455/sophia-electric-grade-a-6sn7-matched-pair

Somebody buy these tubes. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Oskari]

  Aren't the TJ tubes made in the Shuguang factor

 
TJ is a manufacturer in Tianjin.

 

[bonesnv]

   
TJ is a manufacturer in Tianjin.

 
Ahh, gotcha, thanks for the clarification.  I know most of the new stock tubes kind of share distribution from 2 to 3 different manufacturers selling under a several different names, couldn't remember who was who though.

 

[Badas]

Do all the WA22 owners here enjoy there HP balanced if so what balanced Dac are you using . Thanks 

Yes. Audeze LCD-3 balanced and Oppo HA-1 as a DAC.

 

[Badas]

I got my Svetlana power tubes for the WA22. I'm breaking them in at the moment. They have a very nice smooth natural sound. The 7236 Tung-Sol from Woo has a lot more power tho.

Also. What is it when you get crackly hiss sound when no music is playing. Is that microphonic? I'm experiencing it bad with these. Will that go away with time?

 

[TonyNewman]

Also. What is it when you get crackly hiss sound when no music is playing. Is that microphonic? I'm experiencing it bad with these. Will that go away with time?

 
Yes and probably. Burn in is important for tubes - some take 50 hours to stabilize, others 300 hours. Harsh and/or microphonic sounds are typical for a tube pre-burn in. It is best not to be too judgemental on tubes before a full burn in - you might be dishing on something that turns out to be a gem with more hours on it.
 
Some tubes sound great right out of the box (like the Mullard GZ32 - that thing sounds good right away and just gets better). Others take forever - my Psvanes need a full 300 hours to settle.

 

[Badas]

^^^

Thanks. My power transformers are getting a lot hotter. The whole Woo body is warm. Transformers warm. Not hot. With the Tung-Sol's they stayed cold. Is the extra warmth okay?

Edit: in saying that the Svetlana's are a real light show. They glow about 4 times brighter than the Tung-Sols. Would that part of the extra heat?

 

[TonyNewman]

^^^

Thanks. My power transformers are getting a lot hotter. The whole Woo body is warm. Transformers warm. Not hot. With the Tung-Sol's they stayed cold. Is the extra warmth okay?

Edit: in saying that the Svetlana's are a real light show. They glow about 4 times brighter than the Tung-Sols. Would that part of the extra heat?

 
Some tubes are hotter than others. My SERPs could double as a BBQ - you could toast marsh mellows in front of those things

 
 
EDIT - apologies - you were talking about the transformers, not the tubes.

 

[Badas]

Some tubes are hotter than others. My SERPs could double as a BBQ - you could toast marsh mellows in front of those things  

EDIT - apologies - you were talking about the transformers, not the tubes.

Yeah. Previously my power transformers would run cold to cool. Now they are mid to high warm. I have the volume control a lot higher to take into account these new power tubes are not as powerful. Nothing is super hot. The base of the power tubes are hottish. However whole Woo now runs warm. Okay or not?

Edit: Wow they do that blue glow thing as well. Freaky cool. Certainly a beautiful looking tube. Only one side is now microphonic (so that would only be one tube wouldn't it?). The other side dead silent.

 

[DragonOwen]

Already posted some photos in "Show us your Head-Fi station at it's current state." thread, but dicided that they will be more appropriate in this thread with some text comments (almost no technical details, sorry, I'm noob in this mater, so only photos...)
 
Had some issues with my WooAudio WES... As I live in Russia and bought it here about 2 years ago on second hand market, so guarantee is probably over long ago, I decided to ask good master that lives in my city for help (Sergei Zhukov, LynxAudio)...
So, first issue: had loud "click" sound and volume is became much quiter and had some clearly hearable distortions, when I looked on the amp I saw that power tubes not light... After master looked inside the amp he indetified the problem - stabilazer had broken, so make new (with some changes compared to original for more stability)... Here are a few photos:
- Broken stock stabilazer:

 
- New (v1, after 2nd issue master maked new stabilizer because of modification of flame rig) stabilazer

 
Second issue: had some "hiss" sound from left channel, after this volume became much quiter in it, after some trying to turn amp on/off issue became more severe, sound even disappeared compleatly in both channels for 5-10 seconds (turn amp in for 1-2 minutes, for this period 2-3 times sound disappeared), and lastly on final turn on I saw that tubes in PSU is abnormally glow brightly and light is gradually increasing... so, master indetified new issue, one of the four filter chokes in amp unit had resistance about 3/5 of resistance that has any of other three filter chokes (they had almost the same resistance), so it appears that one of filter chokes had coil-winding short circuit... I ordered new filter choke for WES from WooAudio, so that master can fix my amp, he also proposed to make some modifications to the amp, I agreed... So here are a few photos:
 
- PSU block before fix & modding (stock, with stock stabilazer):

 
- PSU block after fix & modding:

 
- Amp block before fix & modding (without one of the filter chokes (broken)):

 
- Amp block after fix & modding (with one temporary filter choke, later was replaced with identical to other filter chokes (got it from WooAudio)):

 
- Stock power cable:

 
- One of two (master maked two with different length, so that I could put blocks of amp on differt shelves using long power cable) new power cables (not fully assembled):

 
- Final view inside after all fixing & modifications:

 
Now amp is working fine, sound probably (the fix and modding took a lot of time...) even better than it was, and here is how my home rig looks right now:

 

[bonesnv]

^^^

Thanks. My power transformers are getting a lot hotter. The whole Woo body is warm. Transformers warm. Not hot. With the Tung-Sol's they stayed cold. Is the extra warmth okay?

Edit: in saying that the Svetlana's are a real light show. They glow about 4 times brighter than the Tung-Sols. Would that part of the extra heat?

 
The transformers can be hotter based on the tube combinations used.  If I run 7236's + KR VT231's and the 5AW4, the transformers on my amp get pretty toasty and there is a good amount of radiating heat coming off the tubes but nothing I would concern myself with considering how hot amps like the Ragnarok, Lyr and Asgard get, as they use their chassis for the heat-sinks.  If I switch out to lets say, 6F8G or the ECC32's with the 5998 power tubes, everything runs much cooler no matter then rectifier chosen.  Still a fair amount of radiating tube heat but transformers are much cooler to the touch even after 5-6 hours of being on.