Aric Audio Super 2A3 owners - favorite tubes?


Hello all,

I've been enjoying my new set of Aric Audio amps (the Super 6SN7 linestage + Super 2A3 amp) and have been playing around with different tubes. I am curious what tubes anyone who owns either of these prefers.

I swapped from the stock 5U4GB to some NOS RCA 5U4Gs, but not sure if there's anything better out there that owners may prefer rectifier-wise. Asking Aric, he said GB or G works fine, but beyond that didn't offer any other alternatives as far as compatible tube options.

For my 2A3 tubes, I have a set of NOS Svetlana SV-2A3 (2C4C) and EML 2a3-S Meshplates and prefer the EMLs. The Svetlanas sound nice - they are a little more 'warm' sounding to me - but they lack the detail and wide holographic soundstage that the EMLs produce.

For the 6SN7 tubes on both the pre-amp and the amplifier (3 total), I've tried Sylvania JAN 6SN7GT VT-231 2 Hole Bad Boy, Black Plates an d NOS RCA JAN 5692 6SN7 (red base) tubes and prefer the Sylvania's by a mile. Swapping from the Sylvanias to the RCAs, bass thinned out quite a bit. Detail was great, and mid/highs were nice, but the Sylvanias are overall much nicer.

What have you tried and liked / tried and kept?

128x128mmcgill829

The only bummer for me is that the Super 2a3 amp from aric has the 6SL7 and 6SN7 tubes too close together to accommodate these larger tubes. I'd love to experiment with using the linlai tubes in the amp as well. I could get away with replacing just one, though, so I may get 2 matched pairs when I order more and keep two for the amp - one for use and one for backup. Worst comes to worst and it doesn't work as well in my amp, I'll just have an extra set for my pre-amp and be set for the forseeable future. Never hurts to have extra tubes around.

I'll be getting some KR 2A3s in the near future and am interested in seeing how they compare to the EMLs.

mmcgill829

I read that some users have used a tube extender, basically a second tube socket; to offset them.....allowing them to clear each other. Not sure if that would work for the 2A3 amp though

@vthokie83 The problem is they are aligned right in front of each other rather than side to side, so its a front/back distance that is the issue and it's quite close. I'm not sure I'd want to put anything but standard sized tubes there from a cooling perspective. It would really need to be either significantly higher or offset by a couple inches.

I'm still using the bad boy 6SN7 tube there, plus a fairly expensive NOS RCA 6SL7/5691 red base that was something like $200 for just the one. I may swap the 6SN7 for a linlai just to test, but that's probably it I think! The NOS 5691 is pretty excellent.

Worth a shot, best of luck. I may come back here in a couple of months once I've had a chance to try the tubes

@vthokie83 Please do! Would love to hear your thoughts (plus could be beneficial for others who come across this thread with the same questions).