The $55 dollar tube is the low noise tube and should go in v4 in the sp16 for a quiter phono stage. I just received these west germany tubes too and they sound great, very transparent. The sp16 sounds warmer to me with these tubes. They are worth the money and should last 3 to 4 thousand hours, to me thats 4 to 5 years depending on listening habits.
New 12AX7s from Audio Research
I'm buying a new set of 12AX7 tubes from Audio Research for my SP16.
AR is apparently switching suppliers due to unspecified issues with the prior supplier.
The tubes will cost $40 each compared to $25 prior. That is to get tubes that meet the AR standards according to the rep.
I payed $20 per tube for 12AX7s from Guitar Center last time around. These work well but a touch noisy in the phono section.
So anyway, this sounded like a new development with AR so I thought I'd share. Tube prices appear to be going up, along with most everything else these days.
AR is apparently switching suppliers due to unspecified issues with the prior supplier.
The tubes will cost $40 each compared to $25 prior. That is to get tubes that meet the AR standards according to the rep.
I payed $20 per tube for 12AX7s from Guitar Center last time around. These work well but a touch noisy in the phono section.
So anyway, this sounded like a new development with AR so I thought I'd share. Tube prices appear to be going up, along with most everything else these days.