Tube el34


Hello, I'm in the process of upgrading my tube on a Conrad-johnson cav-50. I used Electro-Harmonic at the moment. It is possible to by Match Quad of them. Witch el34 out there is the best sounding? Mullard el34? There a process of cryogenic blabla to -300? is it good?

Thank you for your time

peter
dogy
thank you for all this info. Maybe i will stick with EH el34. People says that they lacking bass control. But if they are musical it fine for me.

What do you thing of the paste for the connector? is it good? Do you know groove tube gt-el34?

thank you again

pete dogy
There was a blind shoot out of EL 34 tubes done by golden eared blindfolded audiophiles by Vacuum Tube Valley a short while ago of a total of 15 different EL 34 variants including Mullards, EH, etc and new and NOS Original TESLAS and the original NOS TESLAS were the hands down winner and blind favorite. Unfortunately they are hard to find and increasingly $$$.
I have used the original Tesla E34Ls for almost 20 years, and still have enough in reserve(not for sale, by the way) to last me for some time. I also have a good number of the later issued JJTeslas, and yes, I have compared the two, and also feel the originals trump the JJs in the areas of slightly greater clarity and top end detail and deeper, more controlled bass. I also have a dozen Siemens made AEG EL34s, which though nice sounding, don't quite give me the balance I like with my original Teslas. At about the time I purchased those Teslas, I tried Svetlanas, but have never listened to the more current Winged C Seds. I attributed the same characteristics to the Svetlanas as Ponnie has to the Seds---not involving enough and lacking top end extension. I have not tried the EH or any of the Mullard EL34s, and cannot use KT77s in my Air Tight amps. Of course, these are my impressions utilizing my componentry. As they say, YMMV.
I recently purchased 2 quad of el34 Tungsol for my prima luna 6 mono blocks, and I am quite satisfied.
I just put 8, EH EL34's in my Cary CAD 120S amp just to try them out. I was using the new issue Gold Lion KT88's previously so this will be an interesting comparison. I thought the Gold Lions were great by the way. Maybe just a little to warm for my Harbeth speakers that are also on the warm side.