EL34 differences in air & stage depth?

Gentlemen, Albert & Lloyd, - A sincere, "Thank You" for your input. First. I'm encouraged that the Shuguang tubes can be bettered!

I've read many good things about NOS Mullards (sonics and longevity) and did understand the GoldLion KT77s referenced were also NOS product. While the Mullard Ebay prices cited don't appear to be out of reach, I'm just not that confident about buying individual, non-matched tubes (the H-1 does auto-bias) and from Ebay, specifically. My short list of candidates has been the current production Gold Lion KT77s and the SED Winged C EL34s. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on those two. I'll definitely add the Siemens and Telefunken AEG to my list. I look forward to any additional input you care to provide. (just fyi, I'm not running Dodd amps...didn't want that to be a "red herring"). Again, "Thank you".

Cordially,
GH

Thanks, Facten -
Yup, been checking out Kevin Deal's site a good bit lately. Saw the Siemens there. A little unsure about their fit in my system based on the customer mini-review at the bottom of the page.

Joe - Thanks for the input. Albert did mention SED Winged Cs as the best of current production EL34s. I'd also seen many positive comments on these. I do appreciate your input on the EH and the GT Mullard clone in particular. The concept behind the GT xf2 Mullard sounds like a winner (but I'm gathering execution falls short?). With the possible exception of the Siemens, I probably won't go NOS. Still bouncing around mainly between Winged C, Mullard re-issue, and Gold Lion KT77.

Thanks, Bj...I can say for sure, votes for current production EL34 favor Winged SED heavily. I'm with you on $ expenditure for NOS. The Siemens are within reach but even here I'm a bit confused and seeing pricing that seems to vary from $225 - $300+ for a quad. Seems like Siemens mftd. for different brands as well. Plus I always think about needing spares or another quad in the future when maybe the supply picture has changed and availability is even worse than today. Good current production (if there is such a thing) appeals to the pragmatist in me.

To all who replied...Thanks for your input. For various reasons (not just cost)...I decided to go with SED Winged C EL34s. If these don't get the job done, I'll give further consideration to the Siemens NOS option. What I've leared that complicated that choice is the range of "Siemens" NOS tubes out there.

I found this link, enlightening:
http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/AudioTubes.htm

Jesus - Thanks for your input...it may help others considering EL34 tube changes.

Albert - The Classic Tubes site helped me further appreciate the ways in which "not all NOS is created equal". After reviewing the info there, I felt more confident simply getting current production tubes. From your comments and those of many others, the Winged Cs seemed like the way to go for current production.

They arrived yesterday and I have about 20 hours on them (over and above Doug's burn in hours). They've made a big difference in my system. There is much more air and 3-dimensionality. Plenty of power and impact. Bass is deep, and well-defined. Couldn't be happier. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

Mike -
Exactly which Siemens EL34 did you get? There appear to be various "NOS Siemens EL34s" out there depending on (if nothing else) year of manufacture.

Glad they are working for you.

CA

Mike - wasn't trying to plant any seeds of doubt! If you don't mind, who did you buy them from? Thanks.

Mike - OK. That's great. Let your ears be your guide!
I'm a total novice on this NOS tube thing. I wanted to do the Siemens but started to get confused when I saw the differential in pricing between NOS Siemens offerings: e.g., Upscale Audio vs The Tube Store vs The Tube Depot (I think I'm right on remembering Tube Depot). As I kept searching around to try and understand what was behind the difference in price I stumbled on this "Tube Classics" site. He has some great pictures and info but what really threw me was the statement on the site, "EL34 tubes made by Telefunken in West Germany are pretty rare and Siemens and Lorenz never made any EL34 tube." I guess tubes marketed by Siemens were made by others? (Phillips and Ei)?? Anyway, it all started to seem way too complicated (especially given the pricing, the existence of fakes and me not having a clue what I was doing). So I went with current production. If you got something that sounds good to you, great...that's all that really matters.

If you are interested, the Tube Classics site can be found here:
http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/SieTel%20EL34/EL34.htm

Pubul57 - thanks for the input. I'll check out RAMLabs.

Ivanj -
Thanks for taking the time to reply. If I understand things correctly, given that the H-1 is a a different sort of hybrid design (transistor-based pre) I don't have a small tube upgrade option. I did upgrade them on the JoLida I had been running, however.