2A3 Recommendations & NOS Noise

Hi Howard. I used to use a pair of wright 3.5 monos to drive the tweeter in my Tannoy Westminsters. I agree the sovtek 2a3 is a good sounding valve in the wrights. The Nos rca 2a3 mono plate or bi-plate tubes should not be any noisier than your sovteks. Perhaps the ones you received were just inherently noisey examples.My Westminsters are extremely critical of noisey amplification due to their high efficiency and horn loaded tweeters.To be candid here: To begin with.... the nos bi-plate rca 2a3 is certainly not leaps and bounds better than the sovtek anyway but the mono plate rca is really in a different league. That said: The choice of the 6sn7 in the monos will have a much bigger influence on the "voice" of the amplifier regardless of what 2a3 you choose to employ. The nasty sounding russian 6sn7gt will simply cripple your amp. The currently chineese 6sn7gt tall bottle will give you a more relaxed presentation but still lacks the soul and resolution of most of the nos 6sn7 examples, but one must be careful with selecting low noise and non microphonic examples as many of the nos examples are prone to microphonics. Personally speaking here.... I would invest in a quality nos 6sn7 long before even cosidering nos 2a3's. A nos tung sol 6sn7 round plate or Kenrad vt-231, RCA grey glass vt-231 [ to name a few ] when driving the sovtek 2a3 will handily stomp all over the legendary rca mono plate 2a3 if its paired with any current examples of the 6sn7 dual triodes.

Hi Howard,
you are saying that you can hear the noise from the tubes directly from the amps themselves above your music levels?
That doesn't sound very good at all.Guess i won't be getting those RCA's anytime soon.

Ecclectique,
Thanks so much for all the helpful info. I too have found that the 6SN7 makes a huge difference in these amps. I absolutely love the huge, liquid imaging of the Brimar's. They are not as focused as my RCA's, but I just get lost in their music. I agree that the cheaper 6SN7's simply choke the life out of the Wright's. I'll have to decide if I want to chance another set of NOS 2A3's. In the meantime, I might have to get another pair of the Brimar's.
Howard

Craig,
Just don't get the pair I had. I'm getting another pair.

Like Ecclectique says, however, the Sovtek's are pretty good, and changing the 6SN7 will make a huge difference.
Howard

Hello Howard,
I just saw your post and I will check my notes that I've kept on my 2A3 system that I've been using for eight years. I'm at work at this time and my notes are at home.
Latter

I enjoy my NOS Sylvania's, AVVT Mesh plate Cobalt’s, Full Music Meshed plate 2.5v version, including Svetlana 2A3 (Russian number 2C4C). This tube was produced between 1950’s-1960’s for military equipment. My buyer found them in Siberia. A very rare tube hard to find I believe. (I own a few new pair).

Well jeez, Larry, we're members of the same club here. Send a pair of those lovely Svet's my way, huh?