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
Well it's been 24hrs on my Shuguang CV181-Z's grade A's I'm comparing them to my NOS Mullard ECC32 CV181. My frist thoughts are the Shuguang CV181-Z's have a wider soundstage by about 2 feet. I'm not noticing any deeper soundstage yet. This my be because they are better matched. Nobody has 1000's of the Mullard ECC32 to pick from. They are a littler clearer sounding but could sand to open up yet, but it's early only 24hrs in the books. The bass my be a little tighter on the Shuguang CV181-Z's. The top end on the CV181-Z is a little edgey or bright. Cymbals don't sound brassy yet like they do on the Mullards they sound tinny. I hope this goes away with time. The hole tube top to bottom just sounds tight. They are showing good potential, but the Mullards are the better sounding tube at this piont. But it my take up to 300hrs to get the Shuguang CV181-Z's broken-in. My Mullards have about 150hrs on them. My test amp is a Cary SLI-80 Here something else I noticed the power supply on the amp is running cooler with the Shuguang even though the C181-Z are rated to draw only 50ma less then the Mullards just something think about.

Scott
What is BT? Is it a new variant of hte Treasure, or the same black glass treasure as usual?
Well after 100 plus hours on the New CV181-z. I think they went to soft for me. They sound a little dark to my ears compared NOS Mullards ECC32 The new CV181-Z are good but to me not as good as the NOS Mullards but this is just in my system. It needed a little brighting up. In a set-up that doesn't need that the new Shuguang Treasure CV181Z my be the better tube. The soundstage turned out to the same, side to side and front to back. Both big compared to any other 6SN7 I've tried.
I have read that those tubes need 300+ hours to break-in, I'd give them more time and see where they stand against the Mullards.
I agree with Wig, this tube will get better with further breakin hours, be patient.