What do you know and how do you like the RCA 5963 Black Plates?

I wish I understood the appeal of tubes...but I really just don't get it, even my very 1st transistorized amplifier I liked better than any tube amp I had heard at that point...from then on it was just technology that had lived well past its prime to me. That said, I have heard some say that a class D amp with a tube buffer is audio nirvana. I hope I get to hear one before I pass.

I wish I understood the appeal of tubes...but I really just don’t get it

@livinon2wheels , I think it might be kind of like when I was in the Air Force almost 50 years ago, there were a bunch of us that liked big bore high reving Japanese 4 cylinder bikes, and then there were a bunch of guys that liked to shake around on their leaky Harleys.

If I was going to ride a bike again at this stage of my life, it would be a shaker, and 30 years ago when I got interested in "better end" audio it was tubes that grabbed me.

livinon2wheels

                         For me, tubes bring out the realism of the sound of voices and instruments. If I close my eyes, on a good recording, it sounds like the voice or instrument are in the room with me. Also, it conveys the emotion of the performance to you. You can actually feel it, so it's a sound and emotional experience, which is what watching live music is. Transistor equipment can be really good too, but for me, not to the same degree.

I know this is an old thread - 5963, yeah I like this tube in place of 12AU7. RCA’s black and gray plates are very good sounding. For me, they should be limited to use in power amp slots only. They tend to be very microphonic in preamp and phono stage slots. These tubes were not "designed" for audio applications (the upside of this - they're still relatively affordable)! Quite alike the old 6SN7GT in the microphonics respect, actually (though 6SN7GT was designed for audio, it is very old). I guess if you’re dedicated you can sift through enough tubes to find a quiet set for your preamp.

RCA 5963 black plates used to be the tube of choice for VAC amps (circa 2000s), before they switched to 6SN7 front-ends for most of their amps.

I generally like tubes better than solid state. But sometimes a good SS component can surprise me at how good it sounds, and I’m definitely not opposed to mixing 1 or 2 into my systems. But an all-SS system - no way. I’d by far rather go all-tubes.

mulveling, did you compare various RCA blackplates from 50s to Raytheon blackplates from the same time period ? I really like the RCAs in the driver section and how they work together with 12AX7 Mullards in the preamp. I was thinking about trying both Raytheon blackplates and Mullard 12AU7 at some point, though there is no need really.