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Shuguang Treasure tubes....

I'm not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes....Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled "FRAGILE: GLASS!" was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever....or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!...right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they're this good right out of the box I can't wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I'm no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I'm one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the "CV-181", this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7's and I'm very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
128x128johngp
jcspinks
17 posts
 
The 6CA7s are in the amp and biased at a VERY different setting from the Siemens to acheive the same idle current of 33mA. The current was heading for 50mA!

With the WWII RCA driver tubes the sound was very fat, so the Siemens are therefore relatively leaner sounding. I changed to Italian Fivre 6sl7s and the sound tightened up considerably. These drivers are in the ballpark of more typically accepted standards for balanced sound, so I believe the warmer RCAs were complimenting the thinner Siemens.

That aside, with the more complimentary driver, the Shuggies sound very good out of the box, initially with very extended but natural vocals, balanced and full midrange. The bass straight away was comparatively softish, not in amplitude, but in definition. I believe someone else callled it initially flabby. True that. After two hours of run in, the bass is already improved. The treble region actually sounds less good now, perhaps a bit spitty as some else put it. Despite these comments I am impressed so far. I will burn 'em in. Anyone know if idle current is sufficient - I don't want to play music all day. By the way, did I say that they are visually gorgeous?
jcspinks
17 posts
 
24 hours in, they are sounding pretty undignified. Vocals somewhat distant and indistinct, no imaging, as predicted. A bit off-putting but I will remain patient.
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Jcspinks,
Thank you for keeping us updated. Hang in there, I was thinking the same thing as well. They obviously take quite a few hours before they really start to sing, I'm pretty sure that mine are still improving and I know I'm approaching 300 hours now. Keep us posted...

Best,
John
jcspinks
17 posts
 
50 hours of mixed playing and simply leaving them on. Much better today. Highs are not yet pristine (as they were for a few brief minutes after installation) but much better. A bit diffuse but now quite musical. Bass is better defined but not yet on par with the Siemens. What is very interesting, and now contrary to what I said earlier, they now sound best with the RCAs! That means that they have skinnied down in the mids and bass, making them closer to the Siemens' signature. Yikes! What a lot of change!
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I think you bring up a very cogent point in tube rolling!

It's not the type of exercise where one can replace one tube in an amp, be it output, driver, phase splitter, etc., and be done with it. Rather, the combination of tubes must work synergistically.

I personally find in most of my amps, the combination of driver and output tubes should should be looked at as a marriage. If I do change output tubes, I'll normally need to then return to maximize the results by finding the right driver tube to mate with them.

But, it's an awful lot of fun. Getting the most out of one's amp ala the tube combination offers a lot more to the end result than many people would realize.

Continued best of luck with your Shuguangs!
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