Help! Forum consensus; what is the best sounding 6SN7 octal tube, old or new...

Hi Steve,

Most love the Tung-Sol, Ken-Rad, and JAN RCA made from WW II. I use the JAN RCA WW II and love them. Superb tube life and consistent quality. Expensive! I have used and loved the Tung-Sol and Ken-Rad 6SN7 octals and was very happy.

 

The coin-base GE's that I have are really good. They sound much more alive than the ElectroHarmonix RCA reproductions that I tried, which tended to smear transients.

 

These things are never decided, but the ranking from Dennis Boyle (Chimera Labs) seems to be aligned with what most observers say.

http://home.att.net/~chimeraone/6sn7sound.html

 

Oh dear...another 'what's the best _____ tube' question....

I have listened to a lot of them, many different Sylvania, a few KenRad, Tung-Sol, RCA, GE...There is no 'BEST'. Only flavours and system interactions. Deciding which one I'd have to live with if I could only pick one is not going to help either, as I'd just build for that tube.
cheers,
Douglas

 

A 6SN7 aficionado I know says that the Sylvania "tri-plates" aka "chrome domes" are smooth and sweet/best. Though they were made by a number of different manufacturers, you can spot them because of the flashing on top and the plate structure. The GTAs sound cleaner than the GTBs.

 

Steve, didn't you say once, that for your VAC Sig 70/70 you actually preferd the Chinese variety that VAC sells, or maybe you were refering to the Chinese 300B's?

I'm wondering because I have the same amp, and have been wanting to experiment.

 

Good to know Steve, thank you.

 

I haven't listened to Tung-Sols or RCAs, but I've heard GE GTAs and assorted Sylvanias. I was settled on the short Sylvania 6SN7W (chrome dome, black base), but I just switched to Raytheon 6SN7WGTs (brown base) because they sounded more balanced.

 

It's been a few years since I ran gear that used them, but . . .

I was partial to the RCA VT-231 . . .

 

Did you ever decide which worked best?

 

FWIW, this is Dick Olsher's preference as well.

 

Electro Harmonix 6sn7 gold pin gives me excellent result on my MFA preamp.

 

1940s Sylvania VT-231 for me. Maybe a bit soft on top, but oh that midrange!

 

On a related note, do Telefunken 6SN7's actually exist? I have read that they do not, and all 6SN7's labelled telefunken are actually rebranded. If that is not the case, and Tele made them, how do the Tele's compare?

 

If they did they would likely have been designated using the Euro type number ECC32 rather than the EIA 6SN7. Mullard did make an ECC32, not sure about Tele.

-Aaron