Wanted to report back on the new tubes.
To catch you up I bought a quad set of the Phillips SQ and I have now been listening to them for 5 days now and have prob put about 30 hours of actual listening time with at least 50 hours of the tubes running. They sounded great the first day but they are really starting to sing now. Extremely musical. They really made a huge difference on the top with with a very natural and pronounced midrange. Noting is over cooked across the entire frequency range. I have listened to everything from Miles to Zeppelin with zero fatigue. Each Day they seem to get better and better. Either that or I’m just getting used to them. Either way I’m extremely pleased with the SQ. The soundstage is wide and deep and I am hearing a bit more airiness on songs I’m most familiar with. I’m trying not to be very long winded here but I rally could go on and on. I have to say for sure these are an improvement over the Eleectro-Harmonix that came OEM with the phono pre. I’m anticipating that with another 50 hours of play they should be even better and I’m looking forward to that.
So thanks for all the recommendations guys. I may try a different set later. Maybe the Siemens A-Frames. I don’t see myself feeling groggy enough to spend the coin on the Telefinken CCa’s at $550/tube but you just never know lol. We will see. For now I’m planning on enjoying these for a while. Oh and by the way I still need to do the rectifier upgrade as soon as ARC calls me. I’m on the waiting list foe that which should also be a significant improvement.
Thanks again
Till next time |
NOS AMPEREX 6922 jump on them asap. |
I think that is the same tube as the Phillips SQ if Im not mistaken. Except for the fact that the Amprex NOS is make in Holland and the SQ is assembled in India. |
the ’sq’ designation on old stock philips/amperex tubes was a labelling signifying highly screened tubes, with linear, strong gain and quietness of operation -- sq stands for ’special quality’, thus sold as premium tubes
it is NOT a location of manufacture designation... |
Philips had factories everywhere.
Holland made tubes, were branded as Philips, Philips Miniwatt, Amperex, Dario, RT, Mazda...and having the triangle sign etched at bottom of tube, including tube type and manufacturing dates, noted that they were manufactured at Heerlen factory in Holland. All were the same tube, having the SQ logo or not. In fact some Holland made ones, were branded Amperex, had the PQ logo, that was used for the ones made in USA and having the * sign etched instead.
India made tubes under licence for Mullard, BEL factory same tooling, different etched codes.
So to be sure always check what the etched codes are for finding out which factory they were coming from. |
Totally agree. I was not saying the “sq” designated where they were made. I was abbreviating the tube name in that post. Sorry for the confusion. The one poster recommended I go out and buy the “Amprex tube ASAP”. My point was that the Amprex 6922 and the Phillips SQ are the same tube of which I have already purchased.
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the key to understanding tube production and sales is to understand that there were unavoidable and significant variances in how the innards of any tube (but especially a small signal tube) were assembled, thus affecting their performance ... (of course back in those days, vacuum tubes were absolutely essential components in equipment much more important than hifi gear making music... so great pains were taken to make good ones with pure materials and extremely careful assembly)
thus it was the screening and testing of tubes that made all the difference...that is why tubes were graded and sorted and branded/marked as such, many many portions of lots were rejected or sold off brand
as time has passed, 40-50-60 years go by, old tube supply doesn’t expand (garage and dusty warehouse finds are possible, but so rare nowadays), yet tubes are in use every day, thus making the need to test, confirm function, quietness etc etc is as important as ever if one is going to spend some real money on ’nos’ or used old stock tubes |
@barnettk, you will be amazed of the sound difference between a Holland E88CC and a 6922 USA, same year, both made with sane tooling.
For sure both are good tubes but my preference are the Dutch ones for a single reason. They do not become noisy so quickly compared to their USA cousins.
@jjss49 i totally agree that tubes are not created equally and testing is required for all these old tubes. |
@petg60
according to Kevin Deal they are the same components and they sound the same just assembled in different factories. I trust Kevin. Not saying I disagree with you on anything you said. In regards to testing Upscale audio does test each tube before its released and they provide you with the conductance value for each Triode, and they test them for noise. These are very quiet at least to my ears, and they sound amazing. Also I have only dealt with Upscale for all my tubes and I trust them as stated so for me buying them from anyone else that I dont know is out of the question at least until my experience changes. Im sure that there are other places to buy from but I kinda tend to stick with the relationships I have already forged. |
Amperex tubes manufactured in the Heerlen plant were not all the same. The PQ series were different than the Bugle Boys as were the rare pinched waist tubes. From Brent Jessee: E88CC / 6922 Amperex Holland made white PQ type, white label gold pins.
These have been rated by audiophiles as as good if not better than the famous Amperex, and rivalling the famed Amperex 7308 white label tubes! Most are Philips SQ or Amperex PQ labels. Some are labelled for Mullard, Philips, Dario, RTC, Valvo or other brands, but all have the Philips Heerlen Holland factory code. Holland tubes marked with the Bugle Boy logo were 6DJ8 type, no gold pins. Later 6DJ8 production tubes with white or orange labels were the same tooling as the Bugle Boy. Bugle Boys from Holland were the same tube as the Philips Mini Watt. An Amperex PQ 6DJ8, 6922, 7308 were the same tube measured to the same tolerances as a Philips SQ. |
@barnettk, yes they used the same tooling in manufacturing, but they have sonic differences as all Philips tubes made around the world. When having the chance make the comparison yourself, you may find that you prefer more one from another, but as i said they are both good tubes, so you cannot go wrong with either of them. Upscale is doing a very good job and you do not have to change vendor since you are pleased with them, i would not do it either.
Happy tube hunting.
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Upscale sells tubes of the highest quality. My go to sellers are Brent Jessee and Andy at Vintage Tube Services. They sell high grade tubes and offer a return policy, which is great for a tube roller such as myself.
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Well done, the Philips are very close to top of the hill!
Good that you will first do the PSU/rectifier before you do more rolling, especially because rolling rectifiers is another adventure!
I wouldn't worry about Siemens, I don't believe they can beat what you have in an ARC phonostage. Maybe if we were talking DACs or a Preamp that handles a digital source.
Yes the Teles are better than Philips in an ARC phono but also sound slightly cooler which you might not like.
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@vusi_khumalo
Thanks. Yes you nailed it. Before I do anything else I will be doing the power tube upgrade. Obviously you know what that entails. For those who don’t ARC used 3 power tubes in the PH7 (prob other models as well). What they found out is that the 3 tubes wear unevenly which causes/could cause degradation in SQ. To resolve this they came up with an upgrade to replace the 3 tubes with a single rectifier tube that is supposed to A. Resolve that problem B improves SQ overall. So I’m really looking forward to that mod. I’m on a waiting list about 7 deep because ARC was only doing warranty work during covid but they are now taking in some upgrades and service work. It must be quite involved because they would not give me permission to have my local tube gear guy get the plans/schematics and the upgrade kit for this mod. So I’m waiting. It’s all good tho. Sometimes patience pays off. |
