so far, all cables (interconnects, speaker cable and power cords) I have used, if new, takes sometime either to settle-in or break-in. A settle-in could be just quick couple of hrs, like 10 or 20hrs or so, while break-in takes much longer, usually > 100hrs. All cables with teflon insulation I have used, like Neotech or Mundrof, with all my DIY projects are notorious and teflon dielectric takes a while - they simply don't sound good when initially connected.
Mangler, I did a blind test with break in on some Bluetooth speakers. A broken in Bluetooth speaker and a brand new one. Same make.Same model. Purchased at the same time. We used one for about 20 hours. And never used the other. After 20 hours, It was not close. I was able to tell the unused one from the 20hr one every time. Different situation, but at least at zero minutes old vs something that has been used for 20 hours , they sound major different. Even my brand new LM sounded horrid vs my old Decwares. They sounded crazy different.But now the LM sounds a little more similar to the Decwares. But I changed the rectifier on LM to brown plates so not totally apples to apples. There needs to be more double blinds in audio reviewing.
Hi Jay Did you get the Sylvania 6SL7 brown base and VT-99? Have you tried them? What are your impressions?
Ahhh.... Break in for cables. I got the brown base. I purchased the VT99 and adapter but they haven’t been delivered yet. I should be getting RCA 805’s and Tekton Lore BE’s this week as well. I had some vintage Dynaco A40xls (I believe Devores Oragutans are loosely based on them) but sold them thinking I was going to quickly replace them with the Lores but Tekton took 6 months. I have been using some q acoustics 3020is in the interim. They were $250 for the pair and sound like it.
Pedro, I only had about 30 hours on the stock 6SL7 (I got an open box 508ia so it may have had some more hours on them) and I only have about 10 hours on the brown base. I will get some more hours on the brown base and then do a comparison. Thanks
Yes, that's for sure. Jay, I'm not 100% sure you have the same brown base that I do, there are several, but I believe so. Nevertheless, 6SL7 tubes are quite cheap (with the exception of Mullard and Tungsol BGRP), there's only one tube in this amp and we all agree it's the one with biggest impact in sound. Tubes are system, room, music and taste dependant. In my case, my brown base was the best by not a small margin and I compared it with several tubes well regarded among different audiophiles like Silvania 7F7 and VT-229 (wich were the closest to my ears), Melz and Brimar. There's no one solution fits all in here. Despite what we all say here, you will have to roll some tubes to find the best for you. The good news is that most 6SL7 are pretty cheap and some good 6SN7 are not that expensive. Driver and power tubes are a different story.
Pedro, I thought the 805’s were the tube’s with the biggest impact. If the 6SL7s are that impactful I will start rolling 6SL7s for fun after I get the rest of the tubes (and my new speakers) in place and burned in. How many hours would you say it takes for a 6SL7 to burn in? Thanks
I agree with @Strat-Mangler. But it doesn't mean that 300B and 805 tubes don't affect much the sound, they do. I couldn't go back to the Psvane 805A-TII after listening to the ACMEs. The difference in sound quality wasn't minor. I really tried, for my wallet, but I coudn't!
6SL7 - first stage of amplifier. Split between left and right channels. 6SN7 - second stage of amplifier. Each tube serves one channel. 300B - driver stage - provides enough current for final tube to operate. Does not provide any gain. Each tube serve one channel. 805 - Final amplifier stage. Provides enough power to drive speakers. One tube per channel. As was said somewhere above - 6SL7 and 805 tubes mostly influence the sound of this amplifier.
I still don't entirely understand the first two stages but this is what @jmpsmash replied with when I asked a similar question last year ... The signal path goes through all the tubes. Each stage amplifies the signal so nothing is just a pure buffer. The 6SL7 has 2 sections inside, the L/R channel each take one section. The 6SL7 drives the 6SN7. Each L/R channel uses one 6SN7. 6SN7 also has 2 section, they are wired in parallel. The 6SN7 drives the 300B. 300B is difficult to drive properly so perhaps that's why it takes 2 6SN7 sections. Each L/R channel uses one 300B. 300B drives the 805 tube in class A2. Which means 300B also contributes to the current driving the output. So while ppl say 300B is not important, IMHO it is still important and it is not just for show. The signal passes through each tube one by one, each stage amplifies the signal a little in order to provide enough voltage to the output transformer. So each tube has gain and contribution. It is hard to say which tube will affect the sound the most. Leave that to your own experiment and your ears.
Got my early 1940's RCA VT-143's and built a pair of anode wires as per attached. Initial impressions are in line with prior reports - very neutral, transparent, and articulate. No coloration. Definitely not warm, as expected. Maybe not as 'lean' as I feared either - @thomaskong hears a difference between his early VT-143's and later 805's. The ACME's maybe aren't as transparent but they do have a full sound with body and dimensionality in the bass. It's going to take me some time to let the RCA's settle in before I can draw any final conclusions. They are both excellent tubes in slightly different ways.
What tube do you have in 6sl7 socket? Is it JJ? LM 805 ia does sound bad with that tube. Also was nervous. I could not enjoy the music. No emotion, som grain in sound. That tube is not for music listeners. Sound in my new LM805 which I got in march was completly different than in demo piece which I had since december 2020 till march 2021 at home. Demo had repleaced 805 stock tobe for 805A-T PSVANE and 6sl7 from unknown producer. It was enought to make this amp sound very musical and engaging. When I put 805A-T into my new LM 805ia and also repleaced 6sl7 it started to sound emotional and engaging. Firstly I got sylvania JAN-CHS-6SL7GT VT-229 On begginnig was okay, after two, three weeks i found there is not enought of emotions in sound. I got 6SU7GTY Tung-Sol yesterday and I heve much more emotions from my amp. Iam not sure how long this tube will be working if I bought it as a NOS NIB. Is there any sense to buy one more to keep for future? Is there any difference between 6su7gty tung-sol from 194... and 6sl7 tung-sol from 1951 if they look the same(short black glass, brown base)?
Does anybody know producer of that tube ? It was good enought for me and it look like new production. Had emotions with it.
Should these both sound the same? I own 6su7gty from photo below and thinking to buy that 6sl7 from another photo below
@Insaimz your image links aren't working. maybe try and edit the posts with links that work. imgur.com is very easy to upload and share images.
So..... Rigged up the cord that goes from the top of the RCA 805 vt143 to the amp holes. Got the brown base sylvania 6sn7s in. With 0 hrs on the RCAs and 10 hrs on the sylvania 6sn7s already better than the compliment of stock tubes that had 40hrs on them. Waiting on the adapters for the sylvania 6f8gs to come from China. Now got to find a deal on the EML 300b-xls. Does anyone know how to make the part that goes in the holes from the 805 cords snug up a bit? Mine are a little loose.
Go to page 75 of this thread and you will see the banana plugs that fit perfect after a couple of tries with others that weren't just right. This is what you want: https://www.amazon.com/10sets-Banana-Connectors-Solder-Adapter/dp/B07CHW6LW6/?tag=shforums-20 Plenty of photos of what I used and references to where you can get the parts.