Hi Ray,
I was using Sovteks that were ok & quiet. Lots of duff sylvanias initially caused me grief.
I was very pleased with the grey glass rca's but I think the Sylvanias are slightly better (in my system)- these are the green lettered ones which I'm told are not as good as the yellow lettered ones - sorry I don't know all the nos..
The sylvanias are just slightly warm sounding, not as warm as the rca's but they sound tighter, a bit cleaner ,have very good bass and give a bigger/wider image.
The added 'sparkle' over the rca's gives the impression of more detail/dynamics although I don't think they really give anymore info than the rca's.
The tungsol mouse ears are just too laid back for me and the
cbs 5692s, apart from one being very noisy are really nice & warm but don't have the 'grunt' of the sylvanias imo.
Neither the rca's or tungsols have any obvious shortcomings, I just prefer the Sylvanias which test very well and seem to give lots of gain - I may have to turn down the gain on the syrah as it seems to be giving 10 o clock volume at 8 !.
Just completed a load of room panels - these & the new valves are a revelation. Listened to Steve Earle, Guy Clark & Townes va Zandt Live at the Bluebird Cafe - I've listened to this 100s of times and in all honesty, I'd never heard the cars passing outside or the plane that flies overhead before - it was quite astonishing !
Hope this helps a bit,
Rgds Simon
I was using Sovteks that were ok & quiet. Lots of duff sylvanias initially caused me grief.
I was very pleased with the grey glass rca's but I think the Sylvanias are slightly better (in my system)- these are the green lettered ones which I'm told are not as good as the yellow lettered ones - sorry I don't know all the nos..
The sylvanias are just slightly warm sounding, not as warm as the rca's but they sound tighter, a bit cleaner ,have very good bass and give a bigger/wider image.
The added 'sparkle' over the rca's gives the impression of more detail/dynamics although I don't think they really give anymore info than the rca's.
The tungsol mouse ears are just too laid back for me and the
cbs 5692s, apart from one being very noisy are really nice & warm but don't have the 'grunt' of the sylvanias imo.
Neither the rca's or tungsols have any obvious shortcomings, I just prefer the Sylvanias which test very well and seem to give lots of gain - I may have to turn down the gain on the syrah as it seems to be giving 10 o clock volume at 8 !.
Just completed a load of room panels - these & the new valves are a revelation. Listened to Steve Earle, Guy Clark & Townes va Zandt Live at the Bluebird Cafe - I've listened to this 100s of times and in all honesty, I'd never heard the cars passing outside or the plane that flies overhead before - it was quite astonishing !
Hope this helps a bit,
Rgds Simon