Hi Jim. I'm responding a little late as I hear you have replaced your Viva Auroras. I have had my Viva Auroras for about 12 years and have mostly used a set of GE 845's. Even in these Viva amps driven hard they seem to last forever. Yes they are a substantial improvement over the standard Chinese 845's, which were the only new tube choice before. Iv'e never tried any of these recent new brands so I can't comment. I also have in my collection a couple pairs of NOS RCA's and United's. They are even a little better than the GE's. There just so costly that I kept using the GE's till there done. Personally I've usually preferred vintage tubes to even the best modern, but I don't have that much experience. I have noticed that Vintage tubes all seem to last so much longer than modern tubes.
845 recommendations from actual experience
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What 845s do you recommend, and why?
Sound quality, durabilty, price are the obvious considerations. But I'd like to settle on THE one to use with my VIVA Auroras.
Currently still using Sino 845s which is what Amedeo Schembri (designer of the amp) used to recommend.
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What 845s do you recommend, and why?
Sound quality, durabilty, price are the obvious considerations. But I'd like to settle on THE one to use with my VIVA Auroras.
Currently still using Sino 845s which is what Amedeo Schembri (designer of the amp) used to recommend.
,