mikemalter
1000+ Head-Fier
Quote:
After seeing my comments again, clearly I must have been in a 'Woo - induced' state when making them...
Sometimes, I have hawoocinations.
After seeing my comments again, clearly I must have been in a 'Woo - induced' state when making them...
Sometimes, I have hawoocinations.
Ah, SilentOne. Hitting that Woolong tea again?
..... I'd really like to go back in time to see a tube engineer (is that what they called them?) sit down in front of his drawing board the day the he decided that the glass envelope would work better shaped like this. ......
Oh man... just received my upgraded WA2... almost a spiritual experience. The Sylvania 7236 NOS indicate a packing date of 5-63. Amazing to have a tube fire up for the first time in nearly 50 years. I'm sure the people that packed this tube never dreamed an audiophile in the year 2011 would be raving about it. There is a peculiar smell of the tubes heating up that I recall from my early childhood, but haven't experienced since then. The heat from them slowly helps warm my music room in the basement.
I know I'm supposed to let the amp burn in for 100+ hrs, but the opening hours are amazing... I've been working thru my four and five starred selections... utilizing my DAC, which is a NewForce Icon HDP... not top of the line, I know, but very respectable. Fantastic tunes christen the new amp: The Dogs of War (Pink Floyd); the Dream of Gerontius by Stephen Roberts, Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Maiden-Dance of the Tumblers (HDtracks), among others.
I'm thoroughly impressed !
Oh man... just received my upgraded WA2... almost a spiritual experience. The Sylvania 7236 NOS indicate a packing date of 5-63. Amazing to have a tube fire up for the first time in nearly 50 years. I'm sure the people that packed this tube never dreamed an audiophile in the year 2011 would be raving about it. There is a peculiar smell of the tubes heating up that I recall from my early childhood, but haven't experienced since then. The heat from them slowly helps warm my music room in the basement
I know I'm supposed to let the amp burn in for 100+ hrs, but the opening hours are amazing... I've been working thru my four and five starred selections... utilizing my DAC, which is a NewForce Icon HDP... not top of the line, I know, but very respectable. Fantastic tunes christen the new amp: The Dogs of War (Pink Floyd); the Dream of Gerontius by Stephen Roberts, Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Maiden-Dance of the Tumblers (HDtracks), among others.
I'm thoroughly impressed !
Great photos--I have had my new WA2 for about 10 days now, and I'm loving mine as well. Also using it with HD800s. I also have the Sylvania 7236 power tubes. This setup has me listening to my HD800s more than ever.
I previously had a WA6SE, which didn't play to the HD800s strengths like the WA2 does. I think this pairing is an excellent one.
On a slightly related note, I have a chance to get a pair of Tung Sol 5998s; I know these are slightly higher gain tubes, and I'm wondering if anyone using these in a WA2 or WA22 finds that they hum at all, or if there is any other downside to the higher gain. My first priority for tubes is that they are totally quiet.
FWIW, (and I'm new to this hobby), I have two different pairs of 5998s for my WA22. One is an IBM branded pair, the other is a TS 5998 pair NOS in very old original boxes. Now I know only Tung Sol made 5998s, and maybe the IBM are not the same as far as age/quality/hours go, but my new TS branded 5998s are awesome. The IBMs do have some noise or hum or whatever it is it's objectionable.
To summarize; it may not be the type of tube that causes objectionable noise, but the condition of the specific tubes.
The Tung Sol 7236 is becoming my favorite power tube. I now use TS 5998s or TS 7236 with either a TS 6SN7GT BGRP or Sylvania 6SN7W metal base. drivers, all using the only rectifier I have...EML 5U4G mesh.