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Best 845 tube out there?

I am running a pair of Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks with the standard no-name Chinese tubes shipped by Cary. Whilst I am happy with the sound, I think I should buy a pair of 845's to keep as backup in case something happens to these tubes.

Because I will need to buy FOUR of them, this rules out any tube that sells for stupid money (e.g. vintage RCA 845 tubes).

The only current production 845's I am aware of are:

- Shuguang 845 "standard"
- Shuguang 845B
- Shuguang 845C
- Shuguang PSVANE 845
- KR Audio 845

I have found reviews of the Shuguang 845B and 845C, but there is virtually no information out there on the new Shuguang "psvane" 845. Has anybody heard this valve, and is it a noticable improvement over the 845B and C? Also, what do people think of the KR?
amfibius

Showing 5 responses by nhocti

nhocti
44 posts
 
I got to get myself some of those Shuguang 845-T Natural Sound tubes to try out.
Thanks for the info.
nhocti
44 posts
 
Well,
According to Melody, the Shuguang 845-T's quality is not good so they suggest we try Psvane's instead.
Nevertheless, we are happy with Shuguang 845B so we'll just stick with those.
nhocti
44 posts
 
Just received this from a customer regarding KR Audio 845.

Hugh,
The tubes are excellent. They sounded good right out of the box, and have improved over the thirty hours or so that I have played them.
Very good high end resolution, and great clarity from top to bottom. My room is fairly damped and the higher resolution is very welcome.
It has been the kind of upgrade where I want to go through all my records and hear the new sounds that the tubes bring out.
In my opinion, in my room, the KRs are a substantial improvement over the very good 845Bs.

Headed your way tomorrow, my mom lives in Riverside, and I get down there to see her every month or so.
Thanks again for the tubes.
Regards
Scott
nhocti
44 posts
 
FYI,

KR US Distributor had decided not to carry the big KR tubes such as 845 & 211.

We have had quite a few 845 pairs that failed after a few months so we also decided not to mess with them.
nhocti
44 posts
 
Keng,

Thanks.
We actually refunded 100% less shipping to our customer.
On the other hand, we have yet to receive our money in full from the distributor but that is our problem. :)

On another note, we are waiting to receive some new Shuguang 845C-1 and our understanding is they are rated at 100W so we are excited.
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