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Best 845 tube out there?

I am running a pair of Cary CAD-211AE monoblocks with the standard no-name Chinese tubes shipped by Cary. Whilst I am happy with the sound, I think I should buy a pair of 845's to keep as backup in case something happens to these tubes.

Because I will need to buy FOUR of them, this rules out any tube that sells for stupid money (e.g. vintage RCA 845 tubes).

The only current production 845's I am aware of are:

- Shuguang 845 "standard"
- Shuguang 845B
- Shuguang 845C
- Shuguang PSVANE 845
- KR Audio 845

I have found reviews of the Shuguang 845B and 845C, but there is virtually no information out there on the new Shuguang "psvane" 845. Has anybody heard this valve, and is it a noticable improvement over the 845B and C? Also, what do people think of the KR?
amfibius
parsons's avatar
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parsons
149 posts
 
@t_ramey  Thanks to you too...please continue to keep in touch as it seems posting Melody 845 owners are few and far between.

@charles1dad    A personal note of thanks for your general knowledge and approach to this "sport"...I find your posts in almost every thread that interests me on this site...I think I've followed in your footsteps on numerous purchases and your findings are always spot on.  You've heard and provided great feedback on almost every tube product I own or considered (and many I own largely because of contributions you've made to the decisions).  No pressure!

Great thread--thanks to all for keeping it going.
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charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Parsons,
thank you very much for such kind comments.
Charles
calloway
874 posts
 
I own 2 pair of matched Psvane WE 845s that replaced Sophia's best 845s and the improvement was immediate throughout the frequency spectrum.The Sophia replaced Shuguang.Rachael,at Grant Fidelity is wonderful to work with too.
ecll80's avatar
ecll80
10 posts
 
Received my WE845 Shuguang tubes.
They do not sound anything special so far, indeed one was broken right out of the box ! I was so disappointed...
The seller will send me another pair, though he admitted he did not take care enough about the packaging.
fourlegs
4 posts
 
@ecll80 I also ordered a pair of Shuguang WE845 recently and they also arrived broken. Mine had broken glass at the top of the tube just where there is a glass spacer.

Personally I do not think it was a packing problem with mine and it looks more like a design defect because the glass spacer causes a pressure point on the tube outer glass. One of the tubes was properly broken there and the other one has a stress crack there and was ready to break, probably when the tube heated up.

I have previously always used Psvane WE845 (which I really like) but wanted to try the Shuguang version because of the ever increasing cost of the Psvane WE845.
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