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Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR


Which do you prefer; S.E.T. Princess 300B Carbon Plate or KR 300B WE Clone?

I've only experienced NOS 40's/50's WE so my expectations are pretty high. Which do you think captures the essence of the WE most closely? I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible so EAT is not an option, as much as I was blown away by their KT88. I considered current WE but they're not in production until Spring 2011.

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sakahara
markus1299
252 posts
 
Swampwalker,

I've got 4 used BT's that I'm going to try in my REN 30 this weekend. I've only had the stock Vac tubes in the amp since purchase. The Psvane 6sn7's were a great improvement in this amp so I'm curious how the BT's will sound with the Psvane's
phaelon
1,053 posts
 
"I am concerned about the Sophia RPs in the Ren circuit."

Swampwalker, that’s a very reasonable concern but I don’t think that you have to leave the results to chance. If you would like to try the RPs, I suggest putting Kevin Hayes in direct contact with Richard Wugang of Sophia to see if a tube set can be specked for your amp.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Markus1299- Very interested in your results. I will tell you that I really liked the BT CV181s in place of the VAC branded 6SN7s.

Phaelon- Good idea, I should have thought of that. I do know that Kevin says that the tubes must be fully WE original spec compliant and I THINK he told me that mesh or carbon plates were not recommended.
pdreher's avatar
pdreher
1,223 posts
 
Pretty certain carbon plate (not mesh) is the way you need to go for REN's. Keep in mind, Wavetrader had REN 140's and the standard Sophia Princess carbon plates had three or four of the 16 tubes fail within 2 years (outside the warranty period).
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
OK, my vendor for the Shuguang BTs says he has 2 quads; one w plate current 48 mA, one w plate current 80 mA. Any thoughts on which might be best in terms of reliability/compatability w the Ren circuit. Kevin said he needed more info on measurement conditions which I am trying to obtain. Totally ignorant on any of this "ee" stuff so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
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