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Have been following this thread off and on for a while. Where do KR 300B's fall into the mix? Do past quality control & warranty issues put them out of consideration? I know of a fellow Audiogoner that swears by them for his VAC Renaissance 70/70. |
Markus - I think you should sell me back my VAC 30/30 so you can fund the purchase of the Takatsuki's for your Frankensteins. What do u say! |
Markus - continuing my rambling thoughts... then I'll sell my VAC 70/70 Sig. to fund a quad of Takatsuki's for my old 30/30 that you are going to sell me back, right? ;)... and we can go in together on a big order of Takatsuki's and get a discount! |
Charles - I agree, both of the VAC REN amps are great... but the 30/30 would be a heck of a lot cheaper to retube with Takatsuki's @ $1,450/pair! |
Markus - Now that I've put my Daedalus thru a formal break-in process, they are sounding great.
BTW, in talking to Brent @ VAC, I've found a way to get the sound of my old 30/30 out of my 70/70 Sig. by simply taking out a row (quad) of 300B's. In doing so, I essentially now have a 30/30 Signature in the body of a 70/70 Sig. Kind of a waste in some respects, but it gives me the advantage of either going with only one quad of 300B's to get my preferred sound of a 30/30 Sig., but keeping the other quad in reserve if I ever switch back to a less efficient speaker that would benefit from the additional quad of output tubes.
Now I just have to find a creative way to purchase a quad of high-end 300B's. I can probably swing a quad of KR's, but would prefer to go all out with a quad of Takatsuki's.
Did you have to pay retail price, or did they discount off the $1,450 retail? |
Al - I have the Signature version of the 70/70 with the enclosed chasis, so I'm not sure the non-signature version would be the same. I say this because I shared this tweak with Audiogoner "Waltersalas"... and he was unable to get his 70/70 mk III to work the way I was able to.
In my case, I removed all 4 output tubes closest to the front of the amp, leaving only the 4 output tubes closest to the rear of the amp. Brent said removing either the front or back row of 300B's would work.
Give it a try and let me know if it works for you.
It sounds so good this way, that I will be sticking with this 30/30 configuration as long as I have efficient speakers like the Daedalus. |
I may pull the trigger today on a quad of Tatatsuki's. I cringe at the price, but figure it to be a once in a lifetime purchase. Hope they live up to the hype! |
I've been beating the bushes for the last few weeks trying to find either new stock EAT 300B's or KR300B's with no luck. Thought I had found a pair of EAT's at Elusive Disc, only to be told at the last minute that there is zero availability from the US Distributor, and leadtime for the next production run could be 9-12 months, but it was uncertain when more would be available. |
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I was able to find a quad of gently used KR 300B's to try in my VAC REN amp... so I'm out of the running for the mysterious megabuck Takatsuki's. A part of me is sad that I won't get to try them, but the money saved by going with the KR's makes it a bit easier.
If the Takatsuki's continue to get killer review's, I'll probably bite the bullet in a year or two just to see what I'm missing.
Looking forward to following the evolution of this thread. |
Pretty certain carbon plate (not mesh) is the way you need to go for REN's. Keep in mind, Wavetrader had REN 140's and the standard Sophia Princess carbon plates had three or four of the 16 tubes fail within 2 years (outside the warranty period). |
Swampwalker & Markus - Let me know if you end up trying the Takatsuki's in your VAC REN amps. Audiogoner "Wavetrader" tried Sophia carbonplates (not RP) in his 70/70 and, if I remember correctly he had at least three of them fail over a 2 year period... so the Sophia RP's might not be a good option for VAC REN amps. Given their local availability, I would have been very tempted to try the RP's if I'd know they would hold up in the VAC REN circuit.
I know I'm taking a bit gamble trying KR 300B's, but Audiogoner "Waltersalas" has been using them in a 70/70 for a few years with no failures. The quad I'm getting are said to be gently used, and I'm getting them at a used price @ 60% of retail, so I figure it's worth a try, vs. spending $2600 on Takatsuki's that have no track record in regards to longevity with the VAC REN amps.
Brent & Kevin @ VAC did recommend Shuggie Black Treasures from a sound quality perspective, but did not know how well they's hold up over the long run. But @ $600 a pair, there's not too much risk, relatively speaking when it comes to premium 300B's. |
Swampwalker - I am far from technically savvy when it comes to tubes... but I assumed that "mA" refers to milliamperes. If that's the case, my VAC REN 70/70 Signature amp has a milliamperes dial on it and it measures milliamperes for each tube. In my amp, my VAC sourced Chinese tubes measure between 75 & 78 milliamperes, and my latest KR tubes are measuring in the 80 to 85 range. I talked to Brent about this yesterday, and I could have sworn that he said healthy tubes should measure in the 85 to 90 range. At this point, I have too much conflicting info to know which end is up. FWIW, the WE 300B spec sheet (which REN amps are based on) call out a max. plate current of 100 milliamperes, which is a far cry from the 48 mA option your dealer is offering you (assumes mA and milliampere are synonymous). |
Al - yes, the readings on the bases of the VAC / Chinese tubes read 45 & 5.4. |
