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Atma-sphere amps best power tubes

This question has been debated before on A-gon but without a clear onclusion. I wonder, is it worth it, to upgrade from stock Russian or China output tubes (6as7g), to American NOS tubes?

It seems that everyone agrees that upgrading the Atma-sphere driver tubes from stock Russian/Chinese to NOS is well worth it. This is my experience also.

I am wondering about changing the output / power tubes too. I wonder if a change to NOS is well worth it also in the output case.

It seems likely, judging from my other equipment testing.

My Audiotailor Jade OTL headphone amp uses 1 6asg7 and 1 12ax7. No surprise - it sounds better with a good NOS 12ax7 compared to Russian/Chinese stock 12ax7.

More surprisingly, it also sounds clearly better with a NOS 6as7g output tube (General Electric US NOS). The improvement is largest with the driver tube but not so much behind with the output tube. Almost 50 50.

A lot of output tubes are involved - 28 tubes in my MA-1 amps. Changing them all is costly, and so I would like to know some user experience before I go into this.
Ag insider logo xs@2xo_holter
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o_holter OP
977 posts
 
Thanks Rushton! A pleasure.

Besides buying some US tubes to try out, I am investing in a MR-1 tube tester from Helmut Beck, Germany - custom setup so it takes all the tube types in my system. I have no less than 87 tubes alltogether in the system (blush! I had not planned this).

I've had quite a large failure rate with 6as7s and this seems to be a common experience. My hope is that the tester will at least help avoid putting bad tubes into the system and that this will mean less repairs, less damage to other components etc. Hopefully the tester will also be of help getting the best sound, combined with listening.
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Just be cautious about relying on the testing with the 6AS7G tubes. Again, recalling what Ralph has mentioned to me over the years, typical tube testers do not measure a 6AS7G in the same manner as is used in the Atma-Sphere circuit. Perhaps the MR-1 from Helmut Beck does so.

I keep hearing about failures in these power tubes. In 14 years running the MA-2, I've had only 4 tube failures with the Sovteks installed. Many of my tubes are still orginal with thousands of hours on them. I suppose my time is coming due. ;-)

And, I now feel absolutely free-spirited with only 84 tubes in my system!
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o_holter OP
977 posts
 
84 tubes only - you are on a diet I suppose?
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o_holter OP
977 posts
 
I read somewhere that testing the 6AS7G is one thing - another is how it actually performs. (And - how it actually performs in an Atma amp).

I had the amps to repair recently and the repair man Hans Kise tested while I looked, finding that about 40 per cent of the 28 output tubes measured non-optimal. He had the amps lying on the side, bottom plate removed, and used a multimeter on the connections of each tube in the amp itself (not a tube tester). Two days later he was on his way to trash the non-optimal tubes when I told him to wait a little - he managed to salvage them, before the garbage collection. I want to test them some more.
acresverde
396 posts
 
I keep hoping that Ralph and crew will follow thru one day on the oft hinted at 6AS7G tube tester that they were going to build. A lot of us would really like to put to bed once and for all the issue of whether or not our various testers are up to the task of RELIABLY evaluating our power tubes or not. A purpose built unit would be a godsend.
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