1975 New Reflektor 6n23p SWGP or Siemens/Amperex/Telefunken Cca?

Much appreciated rodman.  I did try some NOS NIB French made Mazda (Dario labeled) blue tip e188cc from Brent Jessee in pursuit of a tad more harmonic richness, which indeed they delivered, but the sound was less real than the the afore mentioned Siemens provide.  Also tried some orange globe Amperex 7308; similar result.  

Getting the sense that there's probably not much room for improvement on this front...and the associated sense that I'm lucky to be where I'm at on this front!

Really lucky actually; the matched Siemens e188cc were bought from Upscale Audio in 1997 and used for only a few months in a Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 amp before selling the amp and stashing the tubes...only discovered the tubes in an old Rooney Brushes of England shaver box where I stashed them (24 years ago!) a couple months ago!  Yes, lucky indeed. 

Thanks very much for the experientially earned insights gentlemen.  I'll stick with those happily discovered Siemens tubes.  One case of audio nervosa cured :)    

Try to get some 6n23p Voskhods 74-79 period and you will never look back, problem is to find a good and trusty vendor for these. They have a better pricing compared to other 88 family nos, have less tedency to microphonics, and generate less heat around the tube. I have tried nearly all in that family and i am happy to have a good stock of these and selling nearly all my nos stock of ecc88/e88cc/e188cc. Just kept some Holland ecc88, e88cc, e188cc, Siemens e188cc A frames (which i find better voiced than CCa's). D-getter Bugle Boys ecc88 and Amperex Holland e88cc straight D-getter 1958-1959 period are special but can become noisy. All depends on your gear and how hard it drives the tubes.
Another nice and linear sounding tube is Mullard e88cc-01, equivalent to CCa but unfortunately same pricing and more rare.

G

@xenolith -   Sounds as though our sonic palates are similar.      Given you got those from Kevin (very reliable NOS source): in most circuits, they should last around 10K hrs.      Brent's another of my favorite tube mongers.         You're probably already familiar with his views, on the 6922 family, but- just in case:          http://www.audiotubes.com/6dj8.htm

Love this place. 

Once had a mentor tell me "All good scientist must have a latent masochistic streak"...what he meant was that, necessarily, scientists must enjoy the suffering that necessarily predicates the solving of hard problems.

Could be wrong, but, I think that audiophiles, by that definition, are good  scientists.  





  

Yo petg, just bought 4  Voskhod 6n23p "1970s for export" Nationals

4 for the price of 1 Cca

The nervosa cure didn't last long