Speaking of 6922 tubes, try some National Matsushita 7DJ8/PCC88 made in Japan new manufacture. The have replaced my Valvo Cca's sound great and are very affordable.
How expensive are best NOS tubes ? And how difficult to find ?
Phono stages, preamps and power amps. Any non-Chinese adequate substitutes? I know that if you have Lamm, Vladimir has a few sets of Russian tubes in stock for each particular unit, and it is not really expensive to retube them. But if you have, say, VAC or CAT or Atma-Sphere and want best longest lasting and most reliable tubes, what then ? Don't ask me why not Chinese, I can't talk about it here except that I don't trust their quality control.
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The plates are the black or gray (usually gray) rectangular or square objects that take up most of the space in the tube. Long plates are usually found in older tubes, early (1950s) versions of tubes like the 12AU7. They may sound different from the later short plate or box plate or square plate (three different names for the same type of plate) versions of the tube but any 12AU7 socket that can use a long plate should also be able to use a short plate. Tell us what brand of preamp you have and we may be able to help you get the right tubes in it. |
Welcome to the world of tubes. The Rogue should be a nice sounding integrated. I know we have some Rogue fans here. Tube rolling is just trying different tube brands in your amp to tune the sound to your liking. There are also variations on the 12AU7 like the 5814 and many others that work where a 12AU7 is called for. So there are a lot of tubes that you can roll into your amp, but it's not a cheap form of entertainment. The Rogue has 2 12AU7s from what I can tell and any 12AU7 should be able to work in your amp. What brand of tubes did it come with? Why don't you start a new thread asking Rogue owners what tube brands they found to work well in their amps. They can probably give you a better educated opinion than I can. |
Thank you all for your replies to my inquiries. I love the forums as it provides a very diverse environment and opinions. I am learning a lot on my new tube endeavor. Thanks for enlightening me on my "plate" question. Thanks for your suggestions. For a 40 year SS veteran this is a big change. All my SS experiences have evolved from the early days of getting the best, in my opinion, to top of the line in the later days. I am satisfied with what I have. Now, after hearing a tube sound, I can honestly say I had no idea of what I was missing and regret the amounts of money spent on improving my SS environment. I find I no longer listen to my SS system and favor the tube. Just last night I realized I had been immersed into the sound for 6 hours and time stood still. Did not realize it was 11PM before I retired to bed. It's a good thing I'm retired and have that time on my hands. I am truly impressed with that "tube" sound I always heard of. What a great way to enjoy my golden years. |
I have a Rogue Pharaoh. Great sounding unit. Has a very good Phono stage and headphone amp and an outstanding line level section. The stock tubes that come with the Pharaoh are JJ 12au7 tubes. I experimented with some 50 to 60 year old Mullard 12au7's, NOS. This, in my opinion, took an already good sounding amp to a much better one. The sound became more holographic. Air and space around instruments and voices became much more natural. The soundstage expanded in all directions. Pair the NOS tubes along with a premium power cord, doesn't have to be an expensive one, and you will be set. Depending on what you have in your system, you can experiment with Telefunken and Amperex tubes also. They can do similar things to the sound like the Mullards, The best thing to do is experiment. Cheers, Tim |
Mr m, thank you for your input. It's good to hear you are also satisfied with the Pharaoh. Since I had no knowledge of tube equipment and reading up I decided that it was my best choice for entering this realm. I happen to very much agree with you. Out of the box I was impressed with the unit. Of course I have nothing to compare it to. I think I don't need to compare any longer. Someone else mentioned Mullard also. I'll give that a try when able. The Pharaoh is used with B&W 803D2, Musical Fidelity A3CD, vintage 1976 Sony PS4300 TT. I'm streaming audio thru an Oppo 103 using aux input. I'm also using the HT bypass where I can use my SS preamp for comparison. I will be removing this connection as there is no comparison between the tube pre and the SS lexicon pre. My SS system has been permanently assigned to HT duty only. Again thank you for your input and suggestions. |
gillatgh, Unless you plan to become a tube fanatic, when you do start to roll tubes buy them from a reputable dealer rather than off ebay. There are good tubes available there and they are probably cheaper but you need to know what you're looking for and have a tube tester to make sure they are as advertised. Good tube dealers will talk to you about what sort of sound you would like to get with your new tubes and offer educated opinions on what might work for you. Some good dealers are: Brent Jessee - he has a lot of information about tubes on his web site if you would like to study up a little. Andy Bouwman at Vintage Tube Services - He can be a little slow getting your tubes to you but many people feel he's the best. Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio - very knowledgeable and very straightforward with his advice. He knows what he likes. Some people don't like that but I enjoy talking with him. There are others that other people will recommend. That's just 3 to get you started. |
If you are interested in reasonably priced cryogenically treated tubes, contact Ron Sheldon at Cryoset. His cryo'd new production Gold Lion tubes sound great and seem to last forever. http://www.cryoset.com/catalog/index.php |