SLI-80 which 6SN7?

had good luck myself with sylvania c1944 vt-231s--crisp, clear, musical without harshness. best inputs were siemens cca, fwiw.

Go to Vacuum Tube Valley [www.vacuumtube.com] and get the back issue number 11 from the spring of 1999. Most of this issue is about the 6SN7 and while parts of it are over my head, there is a very nice one page article which lists and rates over 20 6SN7 tubes. I have used a few differant Sylvania 6SN7s in my AES(cary) AE3 preamp and am very happy. They rate 3 differant Sylvania's and two differant Tung Sol's
Happy Listening
Woody

I don't have a cary, but I do have a tube preamp with 6SN7's. Generally I have found that I prefer the 1940's era tubes over later iterations. I also prefer bottom-getter 6SN7's over top-getter types. There are 4 6SN7's in particular that I would recommend. 1) Sylvania VT-231 1940's, 2) Sylvania 6SN7GT tall-boy similar to VT-231 construction but with green lettering on the base, 3) Ken Rad 6SN7GT/VT-231 black-glass 1940's, 4) RCA 6SN7GT/VT-231 grey-glass 1940's.

Unless your preamp is a push/pull configuration there is no need for tube matching. Most "matched pairs" aren't really matched anyway.

First, I would recommend that you try to match tubes between channels where possible of course. For most tubes, these differences are unfortunately not subtle.

As for sylvanias, I currently own vt231 (chrome base), two kinds of chrome domes, and the W type in both plastic and metal bases. The Ws are by far the most refined for my tastes (metal base or not), followed by the vt231. Those three are far better than the other sylvanias in the systems I've looked at. The Ken Rads are impressive, but the Tung Sols, Brimars, and NUs are all must-hears in some systems too. The RCAs (gray or variants) can be quite nice too depending on your tastes.

Which one will be the best for you depends of course on system synergy and your tastes. If you give me some idea of your priorities in preferences (soundstage, "natural" tones, pacing, etc) and some sense of your preferred tubes elsewhere I can make a few suggestions.

There are several TRUE 6sn7 gurus in audiogon. With any luck, they will chime in too. I have about 12 good matched quads of different brands and types but am still looking to add a few missing keys, so can only tell you within the ones I own... There are 4 or 5 guys I know here who would base their opinions on many more types spread over many more years of listening, so I would suggest you list your preferences for sound and music here as well as a list of the rest of your other equipment and which tubes you have preferred in that equipment. I know it is a bit of a hassle but you will get better help that way...

Best of luck,
Jacob