6sn7 to 6922 adapter: good idea or bad idea?


I was messing around on tubedepots website, and when I put in 6sn7 as a serach enginge, these adapters came up to put into a 6922 socket so the 6SN7 could be used.

I would be using a pair of them in front of a Cary v12 (Cary calls them the "driver + input" tubes). There is plent of room on the amp  where those tubes would be going.  I have several pairs of tested good vintage 6SN7s I could roll in those sockets, and that's why the adapters caught my interest.

 

immatthewj

OP

I like the sound of my Cayin’s 6SN7 and 6SL7, however,

6SL7: I tried one new pair (6SL7WGT Sylvania brownbase), hated them, tried another (GE 6SL7GT, side getter, cylindrical plates), sounded terrific just like the super sounding Cayin branded originals.

 

paulcreed

do you have a few recommended versions of 6sn7’s?

I thought the sonics were as good and often better than the 6922s

@armstrod I've often felt that the 6922 is not a good tube for audio and also think the 6SN7 to be better. But the 6SN7 has different operating characteristics so its highly unlikely that the 6SN7 in your situation is actually strutting its stuff. A change in the cathode resistor value is likely to unlock that.

I used Garage 1217 6922 and 6sn7 adapters with great results in a couple MHDT dac’s. 
 

The 6sn7 and 6922 tube replaced the 5670 tube and sounded very nice in comparison. I had a large stash of very nice 6922 and 6sn7’s and was told by manufacture it was okay to run them so why not, but they were only tube buffers. 
 

Not sure I would feel comfortable in a preamp  unless amp manufacture could guarantee with no issue, even then would be a little skeptical. 
 

I found the Garage 1217 adapters to be very high quality ceramic sockets and gold plated pins.

I've used 6SN7s with the 6922 adapters (from Tube Depot) on 3 different pieces of Decware equipment with terrific results. I'm a big fan of the 6SN7 and have an extensive stash, so it was definitely a win for me. If you search the Decware site there were many similar success stories.

Of course, checking with the manufacturer is always advised. I checked with Steve before I tried it and he thought the difference in the heater specs would be handled fine by his power supplies and he was correct. Other amps may not fare as well.

I thought the sonics were as good and often better than the 6922s I tried, plus I had lots of 6SN7s to roll. If you were starting from scratch and having to purchase either 6SN7s or 6922s, then the economic advantage pretty much goes away.

Because someone will buy it not knowing that it really won't work.

@atmasphere  , that doesn't seem to speak well for tubedepot if they are selling it and knowing it is a bad idea.

I wonder why they make such an adapter?

Because someone will buy it not knowing that it really won't work.

Thanks to all.

That is enough for me to banish the idea from my mind.

I wonder why they make such an adapter?

I would be very cautious but if it’s a go by Cary look at Garage 1217 tube adapters vey nice quality. If you buy from tube depot or Garage 1217 make sure you don’t push the adapter tube pins to far down in the amps tube sockets, just make sure you don’t bottom it out you can damage the wire connecting to the amps tube socket.

Thanks @dekay  , I just double posted on misc as I was hoping to beat the end of tube depot's sale, but with what you just told me, I won't be in a rush and will error on the side of trying to do no harm.

I am not tech minded at all, and I will email Cary, but my experience is that if they answer me, they won't be in any rush to do so.  Thanks again.

You need to check with Cary.

6SN7 has @ least double the heater specs (VS the 6922) and the gains are different.

Not a 6SN7 fan myself, but it's been almost 20 years since I've auditioned tube gear (things change).

 

DeKay

Since I am not sure if I am allowed to post the listing, I will do it on a separate post, but here is what the adapters look like: