The Winged =C= (SED) Svetlana plant made some very reliable power tubes. I hated to see the company fold, when their plant burned down. Comparing them to my NOS GE and Sylvania 6550 iterations; their presentation was quite acceptable. Used a couple octets, from Upscale, myself. Now, unfortunately; most of what’s left are factory seconds. As for me, if there’s a new sweetheart on the block; it’s the GL KT88, Russki repop. They yield most of what I got from the NOS valves, in sound, and (over the past couple years) have displayed no reliability issues.
Newproduction power tubes: Reliablity
There isa topic going on concerning power tube issues in his PL amp,
Some of us have power amps with 4-12 power tubes,, the higher number of the tubes in a amp means the more demand for reliability.
The 2 countries making the most power tubes are china and russsia, So basically we can say this is a Russia vs China shootout.
China has come out with incredible numbers of power tubes, varieties and styles. These are the SET tubes. Russia has a far superior selection in the push pull category.
IMHO , as i do have a push pull amp, I favor the russian labs as far as reliability.
Here is where it counts, As we know, its no fun having a multiple power tube amp, and hearing 1 or more tubes going bad.
A good tech is not cheap, nor so easy to locate.
So in terms of reliability/push pull, I have to side with the russian labs.
The one exception on russian power tube relaibility, is the russian KT150,, its a new tube and we have not yet had long term performance testing. It is not a tube I am the least bit interested in.
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Some of us have power amps with 4-12 power tubes,, the higher number of the tubes in a amp means the more demand for reliability.
The 2 countries making the most power tubes are china and russsia, So basically we can say this is a Russia vs China shootout.
China has come out with incredible numbers of power tubes, varieties and styles. These are the SET tubes. Russia has a far superior selection in the push pull category.
IMHO , as i do have a push pull amp, I favor the russian labs as far as reliability.
Here is where it counts, As we know, its no fun having a multiple power tube amp, and hearing 1 or more tubes going bad.
A good tech is not cheap, nor so easy to locate.
So in terms of reliability/push pull, I have to side with the russian labs.
The one exception on russian power tube relaibility, is the russian KT150,, its a new tube and we have not yet had long term performance testing. It is not a tube I am the least bit interested in.
.
Showing 2 responses by rodman99999
"Much prefer the Svet new 6550’s, the new plant uses the exact same equipemnt as the burned down plant, NOS Svet 6550 = New Production Svet 6550, exact same tube, " Wrong! All New Sensor Corp got from the Svetlana Co was the name. The St Petersburg plant, where their =C= tubes were manufactured, burned down and took the equipment with it (a shame). Currently; The New Sensor tubes are actually manufactured at the former Reflektor plant (X-pul factory), in Saratov. You may have conflated the rumor, concerning Mullard’s equipment, that this page mentions, with SED/Svetlana’s: https://www.effectrode.com/news/rubble-ruins/ |