Best 845 tube out there?

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I would like to offer a testimony on my experience with the KR845 tube.

I purchased two sets of KR845's for my Audion Elite tube amp back in January of 2011. I keep a log for my tube hours and cartridge hours.

It is april of 2014 that i write this, so that means i've personally owned them for 3 years.

I checked my log book and i have 627 hours of listening on my first set of KR845's.

So, that is 3 years and 627 hrs that i have not had an issue.

Note FWIW these KR845's have brass bottoms. I have seen aluminimum colored and copper bottom versions. I have not owned those. I'm not sure what production run the brass bottom version is or if that has any relevance.

I have not heard the WE845. I own the 845B and C.

The C's burn brightest and have alot of shove. The B's are more beguiling. The KR845 is the most neutral of them all. Has more resolution than either and lots of shove. It does not give a vintage tube sound but sounds very modern and sophisticated. It has brilliant timbre and provides a great base point to dial in the rest of your system around, especially if you are committed to use a 845. The A and C are so different in this regard that no cable or cartridge change could ever give you the kind of headway the KR gives you just by having it in your tube amp.

So, while there are some bad experiences out there with KR845 in terms of reliability there are some very positive ones out there too. My experience with them has been extremely positive, sonically and in terms of reliability. The KR845 in my system and in my elite are a essential ingredient in the level of playback i have achieved. I could not go without them.

I recommend asking your amp manufacturer if the specs for the KR845 that you intend to purchase are electrically compatible first, before you buy them.

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Shuguang have the new 211T inside by the pics I see very similar to Psvane T or Mark II.

Opinions or experiences??????
The price is very competitive, better than Psvane T or Mark II.

Shuguang 211-T features introduced by Shuguang Company.

. the product is completely original reference RCA211 design
. High permeability unleaded large glass shell design, both to accelerate the cooling effect inside the tube, so that the entire tube and more aesthetic
. imported vacuum melting high purity high density graphite material, the anode dissipation power than similar products to enhance 20% , fine processing technology, reflects the extraordinary value
. U.S. imports of high-thorium tungsten cathode, both to ensure a large dynamic distortion, and other manufacturers overcome the weaknesses easily broken filament.
. platinum gate, the gate is not without any radiation phenomena in higher operating temperatures
. resulting in positive tolerance design conductive rod and anode, no work flashover or die skew the transport situation
. extension tube gold pin design, so tightly hugged her and header, no signal is missing
. maintain and exceed the original tube sound characteristics
Soothing series pin and socket are all genuine gold plated (24K), withstand Salt experimental test, ten years do not fade do not fade, good conductive properties.
. fully maintain and exceed the original tube sound characteristics
. precision pairing, no parameter drift

KR 845 sounded indeed outstanding so far in my system. The KR were installed on my Nagra VPA (year 2010) and I cannot fault the “sound” in my system but absolutely nothing else. I have just posted couple of days ago in the following forum:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1238460557&read&keyw&zzkr+audio

Good luck to whoever thinking of buying KR845 because I really think you need plenty of luck and dollars.

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,
That is very wise of you and good business ethic. I could have sold all my KR845 (including the 2 new ones) to recover much more than the 50% refund but that would be transferring those questionable KR845 to someone else.