Sorry, I read that as being 60 each vs. for both. But even worse, I just naturally assumed you meant something like the bland GE 6SN7GTB I have on my shelf. A GE that's secretly a CBS Hytron is a GE we can all get behind.
Sylvania vt 231 had been my favorite in Line Magnetic 508 for the last two years. Since there are many variants among them you can taste different flavor. My impression so far is that almost all vt 231 made in 1940's are excellent and most 6sn7 made in 1950's are pretty good.
I received Melz 1578 tube 2 hours ago. It blew my mind with nice decay and body, deep bass, wide and deep soundstage. I had not been blown by TS bgrp just impressed with its transparency. To me this one is one tier above TS bgrp. I am listening to "The Wall" . which sounds full and powerful without subwoofers. Matched Pair of Melz NOS 1578=6SN7GT=ECC32=6CC10 Holes in Plates with Metal Base | eBay I ordered one more tube as spare.
Best 6SN7 I heard is Sylvania 6SN7GTA with Y plates. GTA guarantees pre 1954 manufacture as later Y plate Sylvania are not as good. I guess the king of 6SN7s is the Tung Sol round plate. I never heard one. Also read early pre late 1980s Russian 1578 are incredible.
The king of 6n7 is Melz 1578 with clear logo of 1578. Ts bgrp is one notch below Melz 1578 Some people said not early ones but the ones made in 1970's or 1980's sound better.
I knew you would like them, I placed an order for another pair a few days ago myself. These are some really good tubes for the price of admission.
I own a pair of Toshiba 6SN7 GTB that sound incredibly warm and sweet. They sound great and I got them for dirty little money. I also own a pair of ITT branded Hitachi made 6SN7 GTB that sound very detailed and sound smooth but sweetness it's not their higher effort, but they're very good in their own way. I own some Hitachi and Matsushita 12AX7/12AU7 and I like their sound, I have one Hitachi 7025 as tube 1 (that does 75% of amp for both channels) on my EAR 834P Chinese clone.
1578 sounds much better than my expectation. Frankly speaking I expect it to be around Kenrad vt 231. They have lot of common like excellent bass, but 1578 has nice bloom of body with widedst soundstage that I have had at my home.
I am using Red Brown Base Sylvania 6SN7WGT to play old Jazz by Benny Goodman. This one is very good for old Jazz with transparent window and nice details. But I paid 60$ for three tubes. Thus you do not need to spend fortune to get nice tube.
That's pretty much my impression of these tubes too -- the best I've had in those four positions on my amp. They were expensive though, but well worth it to attain the sound reproduction quality my amp is now delivering. Just amazing.
Some people are of the opinion that 1578 tubes sound slightly different on the manufacturing year. The one that I got yesterday was made in 1980's and I expect to get one made in 1970's next week. After I get another one, I will do comparison of those two. In the meantime, I enjoy full bodied sound out of 1578 made in 1980's.
The following is a quote from the person who has more experience with 1578 tubes. "I own both 70’s and 80’s tubes. The difference is in the plate construction. 1970’s production typically have shinny T-plates and tubes manufactured in the 80s have dull T-plates. Imho, there is very little difference between the two with a slight edge going to the shinny plates based on my listening preference. A lot of people covet the mid 70’s 1578 tubes as this is when production was at its zenith with the strictest QC and highest demand from both military and the atomic industries. As an aside the latest production 1578 tube that “I’ve” seen was manufacture in 1983"
Since I use pair of 6sn7 in LM508 and quad 6sn7 in Freya, i consider ordering more 1578 tubes. Just out of curiosity, i also had ordered cheap 6n8s tubes for comparison. https://www.ebay.com/itm/QUAD-FOUR-Matched-Balanced-Russian-6N8S-6SN7-double-triode-TUBE-NEW-NOS/312402083888?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 I do not expect them to be as good as 1578.
Matched pair Extremely rare 1578 6N8S audiophile 6H8S 6SN7 Metal base 653785085429 | eBay I placed an order of one more pair of 1578 made in 1980 It will take 6 weeks to get it. This dealer offer 60 days of return. After having listed to 1578 for 8 hours, I am convinced this is the King of 6sn7 with nice timber, great bass, wide and deepest soundstage. TS bgrp is not a bad tube but it is over hyped.
Raytheon JAN CRP 6SN7GT VT-231 Vacuum Tubes 1944 Balanced, Matched on Hickok | eBay I won this Raytheon Vt231 tube at Ebay auction at 50$ on May 11th. Including shipping and tax, total cost was 65$ on me. After receiving this one yesterday, I replaced Melz 1578 with this RT vt213 for examination and comparison purpose this afternoon. Wow this is the best 65$ that I had spent on audio gadget. While 1578 sound more dynamic with nice decays, wider soundstage, this RT sound little bit more clean on treble. The only downside of Melz 1578 is some crackle noise before warmup. Most of crackle noise is gone after 10 minutes warmup but compared with RT vt231, I noticed slight high frequency noise. Overall I am still of the opinion that Melz 1578 is the King of 6sn7 with explosive dynamics, deep bass, widest and deepest soundstage. But valuewise, this Raytheon Vt231 which cost me 65$ is the best value with nice musicality.
This shows the holes in the plates feature that sets this Russian military tube apart, with the small support rods inside surrounded with miniature spring. The four in my amp.
And do decent/good 6SN7 NOS tubes use to last as their smaller line tubes like NOS 12AX7 or 12AU7? I'm new to tubes and I don't know what to expect from them,includding durability.
Vt231 is a military version which is supposed to last at least 10 k hours. Most Nos 6sn7 tubes made in 40's and 50's are known to be reliable.
When I had the amp in my early-'50s Wurlitzer 1400 juke rebuilt years ago, I slapped in an ancient NOS JAN oval plate Tung-Sol 6SN7 GT: certainly overkill for my lo-fi application spinning 78rpm records to be honest, and I'm sure a dog couldn't hear the difference between the Tung-Sol and a new Chinese tube in this circuit. I figured that I may as well use it so long as I had it stashed away.
Used TS oval plate in good condition may fetch 250$ or more. If you swap the tube with 50$ Nos 6sn7 made in 50's , you can buy nice dinner or lot of LP s.
I've got four of those audio gadgets on the way, NOS, matched (from eBay). I couldn't pass it up, four brand new never used vintage tubes of this caliber -- you just don't see something like that for sale very often. I'm not getting any younger, so live life NOW I say, and have fun! And for me playing around with various tubes of different character in my system really is fun.
Good for you! Although I like Melz 1578, sometimes it is not a bad idea to taste different flavor out of other excellent tubes.
