How good are NOS Tung Sol 6SN7 tubes (late 50's, 60's).

I've found some NOS Tung Sol 6SN7 tubes that may be from the late 50's or maybe the 60's. Their price is not expensive but I still have a pair of Psvanes burning in and a pair of NOS (1967) General Electrics which will follow to burn in.
How are these 6SN7 Tung Sols, will they sound really better on a Yaqin SD-CD3 tube woofer? Should I buy them?
Thanks in advance for your input.

 

Bump.

 

What about these ones? What you think?

 

Now are on.

 

They're 41.95 €, around 45$ each plus around 16/17 $ for shipping. I don't know how they test, I don't think the seller (French) has a tube tester. I'll ask him how they test and if he could match a pair.

 

Thank you Mr. Hoffman. So I understand they're good. Would you use them yourself either at your home set up or on your mastering rig? I asked for a discount and they did 5 € off of each, but shipping from France to Spain is a rip of, 15 € to ship two light weight tubes to a neighbour country, gotta be kidding.

 

I'm not familiar with the look of the original Tunsol 6SN7 plates. But those look a great deal like they could be Sylvania-made to me... If so, those are wonderful sounding tubes in my experience.

Also as to whether these will sound good or not is all about how they will sound inside of your amp, inside of your system. While many tubes do tend to have a certain characteristic sound to them, whether this sound works well inside of a given amp or system can vary greatly depending upon what your system needs.

I personally like to have a wide variety to tubes at my disposal so that I can find that elusive combination of tubes which makes the system sound magical.

 

I'd be using them with (here comes your dissapointment) a Yaqin SD-CD3 tube buffer which I have linked to an Oppo BDP-93 which I mainly use for CD, SACD and HiRes music files playing.
I'm currently using it with a pair of UK-6SN7 Psvanes which I'm still breaking in (I'm tld these can take up to 300 hours to fully break in) and I also have a pair of General Electric 6SN7GTB from 1967 (a forum member identified with a code on thetube itself as made in February 1967), I enclose pictures of both.

 

Tube rolling is a lot like using spices while cooking. Different tubes do tend to have different sonic qualities. But whether that particular spice that a given tube provides sounds good in a given recipe is anybody's guess. Plus people have different tastes. So what sounds good to one person may not to another.

Personally I'd be inclined to get those tubes if I were in your shoes, and the price were right. But buying tubes from unknown sellers can be risky. Who knows if these are actually NOS or if they have lots of hours on them. Plus sometimes even NOS tubes can become gassy, or may have become damaged with age. If he can't test them, and you can't return them, then you are playing a bit of a game of Russian roulette.

But as a general rule of thumb, having more tubes in your drawer which you can roll whenever needed can be extremely helpful for tuning a system. And assuming that these are in good condition, then these would certainly be worthy to add to your drawer, even if you decide not to put them immediately into use.

 

Thanks for your reply. I think I'll get them, I'll think about it till tomorrow morning. I'll ask the seller if he can test the tubes and get two of them to match. You're right, even if I wouldn't use them right away they'd be a good addition to my spare drawer as these seem to be good and highly regarded tubes and may be hard to com by in the future and their price may be much more expensive.

 

I had forgotten about this thread I started. I ended up getting a pair of these NOS Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB and they have over 150 hours of use so I think they're broken in. All I can say is that for 80€ including shipping to Spain are a real bargain. The General Electric 6SN7GTB I also have (shown on pictures) are really good but the Tung-Sol from the 1960's are the real thing, they are amazing. They are on a ''gadget'' I'm not even supposed to use, a Yaqin SD-CD3 tube buffer, and the combination of these tubes and the Yaqin tube buffer with my now ancient Oppo BDP-93 sounds RADICALLY different, incredibly better, I just love this combination, it makes SACD's and HiRes files really shine. The Oppo BDP-93 is a 7 year old multiformat player more oriented to video rather than audio (for a more audiophile player at the time Oppo had the BDP-95), actually I have seldom listened to its analog outs as it's been mostly used connected via HDMI to a Pioneer SC LX-76 Elite series A/V receiver. Now I listen to it in stereo via analog with the Yaqin between the Oppo and the Pioneer, the Tung-Sol brought the real magic.

 

I realize you already bought the Tung Sols and don't need advice, however I just saw the thread so let me chime in anyway. I recently tried RCA, GE and Tung Sol 6SN7s, all vintage tubes from my stash, as the split load inverter in my KT77 amps. They all sounded very good but my favorite was the Tung Sol. Very well balanced, and excellent detail and dynamics.

 

Thanks for your reply. My Tung-Sol tubes, as you know are not on a preamp or Phono stage, but on a tube buffer between an Oppo BDP-93 and a Pioneer Elite A/V receiver that in Pure Direct mode doesn't do any kind of digital processing, it just behaves as a stereo integrated amp. The tube buffer changes the sound of the Oppo player, maybe as it wasn't the audiophile of its time (that was the BDP-95) its analog stage is kind of week and the Yaqin tube buffer tries to overcome its weeknesses and it gets it up to a certain point but all depending of the tube installed on it. I hage a pair of UK-6SN7 Psvane, which for a new production tube are great and get good sound. I have a matched pair of General Electric 6SN7GTB from 1967 and they're also very very good, they also sound great but on a different league as the Psvane. They're both good in their own way. And then we get to the Tung-Sol and the only word I hage to describing them and their sound is magic. Along with the Yaqin tube buffer they both get real magic, it gets the Oppo BDP-93 sound amazingly well. The Tung-Sol tubes seems to treat all frequencies well, very well, they're like a ''one size fits all'' but when wearing it feels like well custom made. I can't find another way to describe their sound.se
Right today I'm gonna get in touch with the seller and see if he has more of these as I want another matched pair to spear as my current ones are not lasting foreger and I don't want to resign to that sound.
Yes, for me the Tung-Sol 6SN7GTB with large bottle are the way to go.

 

Hi Eddie,
I've just bought a matched pair of Tungsol 6SN7GTB and I was looking for reviews and this thread came up. I know I'm writting this far to late, but I wanted to post my impressions anyway.

I don't have them yet (they are on their way), but I want to say that I love Tungsols tubes. I used 12AX7 new edition cryo and an old 6SL7 on different systems and both are GREAT tubes. I think underestimated, so... they have incredible price-qality ratios!!

My last purchase was a single used and old 6SL7 as a rectifier in my actual integrated amp, the Line Magnetic LM-508. I bought it because it was offered very cheap (about 12 euros) from a dealer in my country (Argentina). I've got curious, so I tried it replacing a Shuguang Western Electric 6SL7 Replica, one tube that should be a very nice one because its NOT cheap. Well, the Tungsol is half the size of the Shuguang and it looks like its little old grandpa , but it gave my system an amount of detail, warm and musicality I cannot express in words. It gave me just what I was looking for because I felt then that my system was a little bit bright at that time (the tubes were new and not burned enough). I also compared it with an old Sylvania 6SL7 that I also bought from the same supplier in Argentina. The Sylvania was a good tube and better than the Shugunag, but not like the Tungsol!!

With that on mind, then I changed the two Shuguang Treasures 6SN7 that the amp uses with, again two old and used tubes, a pair of Sylvania 6SN7. Well, again the old, small and used tubes were FAR better than the Shuguangs. You have to consider that Don Sachs, a well known and praised (boutique) tube preamp builder, recomends strongly the current production Shuguang Treasures 6SN7 for his preamp (and he charges extra for them) saying that no 6SN7 NOS tube is better. Well, I strongly disagree with that statement.

Now, after reading your post I cannot wait to have the Tungsols in my system! If I loved the Sylvanias, I cannot imagine how the Tungsols are going to sound!

Thank you,

 

Sorry if I sound like a broken record but for value and quality, 7N7 is the way to go. Electrically equivalent to 6SN7, they never became as widespread, though, so the selection--and thus the opportunities for seasoning the sound of one's system--is not as large as with 6SN7, but the 7N7 is apparently an inherently better construction. All you need is an adapter (which costs more than the tube).

My Sylvania 7N7 that I bought from JAC Music in Germany clearly beat my NOS Raytheon and TungSol 6SN7 tubes costing many times the 10 Euros I paid for the 7N7. I have recommended this tube in other threads, and at least one forum user (@DrZhivago) gave it a try and was very pleased with them

 

I stocked up on Sylvania 7N7. It should last me a lifetime.

 

Which of the 7N7 tubes have you tried?

I've got an order from JAC Music on the way with the Sylvania 7N7 and TRU-VAC 7N7 tubes, along with a pair of adapters. Willing to give them a try. But that adapter means the tubes are no longer "cheap".

 

I like Sylvania 6SN7GTA.

 

I love the baldwin 6sn7 pairs I have, think their GTB, pretty cheap. Using in a different application.

7n7 are nice and cheap as mentioned. I don't prefer them to the baldwin 6sn7 in my use though.

 

I got two NOS US made Philips JAN 6SN7GTA that I bought around 5 months ago for dirty cheap money: 40 € includding shipping to Spain. They're great.