Rays Tubes

andynotadam and dougthebiker, very interesting testimony. These are the same price as current Gold Lion 12au7, ‘Kevin’s stash’ (Upscale Audio’s highest grade). I am tempted to give them a try next time I buy. I had never heard of these before this thread. What is most significant to me is the possibility that current production may be gaining ground on equaling the quality of revered products of the past. Hopefully these quality gains become more common among manufacturers and lessens the impact of the increasing scarcity of true NOS. For me, perceived quality and price/scarcity issues have severely dampened my desire to acquire more tube gear.

I don’t have a lot of experience rolling tubes, but I recently replaced a pair of NOS 12au7’s (BugleBoys) with PSVane Horizon’s in my Backert Labs preamp. I am very pleased with the results.

A buddy of mine swore by these things when he got them. I brought up some NOS and premium current manufactured ones to compare. The 6sn7’s were beaten handily by in all cases by the Dawning series Shuguang, the Elite series Linlai, and Sylvania and RCA NOS. The Rays just sound very lean with weak bass and a bit harsh on the upper end. He also had a 12au / 12ax combination in an amp and they were destroyed by Telefunken and Siemens NOS. These are just re-branded standard issue tubes. The rest is just hype. If you listen to all the YouTube reviews the script is practically the same for all the reviewers.

In many cases, in phono stages, 12AU7 is used at the output, as a cathode follower. The CF is needed to reduce output impedance, so the stage can drive a linestage or amplifier. The CF adds no voltage gain, so the choice of brand or provenance is relatively inconsequential. Same applies to an amplifier where a 12AU7 may be used as a phase splitter. In a linestage, 12AU7 may add signal gain, and there it may pay to use a select tube. But just remember that tubes age and over time that wonderfulness you think you hear may fade. Real Amperex Bugleboys are the best 12AU7s I’ve heard, but 12 or 6FQ7s were better.

Amperex 7316's for me.