Seeking suggestions for 6922 tubes


Some years ago Kevin Deal had a good price on a stash of Telefunken gold pin 6922 tubes. At the time I needed a pair for my DAC, and they worked out very well. I'm still using them today. Now I find myself with a preamp that also uses a pair, and it seems the Telefunkens are not available at this time. 

I would appreciate suggestions of alternate brands that I might use for this purpose.

Thanks, John 

roxy54

Showing 1 response by petg60

@roxy54,

Many nice tubes in 6DJ8 family, especially ones made between 57-65 for a great tone and some made till 73.

6922 and 7308 would last longer but that would depend also of how hard the circuit pushes them. Some ECC88 will sound better than E88CC or E188CC but with a shorter life span. Please note that due to construction all these tubes can go noisy, so sometimes are a waste of money, even buying from a good source.

Usual suspects for good sound but expensive are Siemens, Amperex (Holland and USA), Teles (though i find them a bit overrated) and French made tubes like Dario and RT. Better value ones are Teslas early 60’s and red Tungsrams. In my experience, after trying most of them, the ones i would look for are:

Holland D getters, Holland (62-65), Holland orange o getter (67-68), Siemens Cca or E88CC(early), Siemens E188CC A frames, Amperex USA up to 65, and Mullard CV4293.

My earlier comments as @xenolith posted have not changed since i find Voskhods of that era (75-79) to be the best all rounder, with still better pricing, nothing missing, not hifi terms for that tube, simply fit and forget. They last long, are linear in presentation, have great bass and flow, a big picture, generate less heat at glass envelope, are quiet and rarely go microphonic. Much better than EV versions.

Last note, most modern tube units are manufactured with current Russian tubes in mind, so using the best alternative would be a good thing.

One Issue is to find a good vendor for those.