Shuguang Treasure tubes....


I'm not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes....Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled "FRAGILE: GLASS!" was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever....or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!...right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they're this good right out of the box I can't wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I'm no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I'm one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the "CV-181", this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7's and I'm very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
johngp
OK, I guess I'm a tube addict. I bought a pair of the Ming Da 6SN7 onion-shaped tubes. I have been using them in my AtmaSphere MA1s for a couple weeks now, and I think they may be outstanding. They replaced a pair of blue glass (early prototypes before the final black glass version) Treasure tubes. They are used in a mix of Sylvania/Phillips WGTAs, RCA black glass, and TungSol 50's era tubes. I want to revisit plugging in some of the other types, but I am getting the most natural detailed yet non-aggressive sound I've ever gotten.
Second the comments about GrantFidelity folks (especially Rachel) being great people to work with. I received first class treatment.
Hi
I've been looking for someone who trid both the Old (NOS)Mullard ECC32(CV181) to the new CV181-Z. Couldn't find anyone. So I'm going to do it myself. I have some NOS ECC32 in a Cary SLI-80. I just got some Shuguang CV181-Z's grade A there best, in the mail today. I have them playing right now. I'm going to give them about ten hours before I listen. That the hard part. If anyone interested I can update with my opinion.
Bigredplane, from my experience and many others, BT CV181-Z takes ~300 hours to break in. Patience will be rewarded :-)
If I get a pair of CV181-Z, while breaking them in on my preamp, do I have to: 1) be playing music into the pre?; 2) have my amps powered on? Would hate to use up tubes in my amp just to break in these on my pre if not necessary.