Russian Tube Preamp, No Return, Here I go again

lewm

thanks for the advice, details and price. I was just letting you know, the looks of that domestic one would have worked (in the shelves with my black Chase unit, not on top like the Russian will be).

In the 5th photo is shows a phono selector

I felt, but didn’t know that it was too high a price.

the Russian 6N4P tube is not available here. they say no hum.

I asked seller for price of spare, but unfortunately he had already shipped the preamp, and he says EMS minimum cost is $40. if I buy just the tube.

Knowing that, IMO, they should include a spare.

They say substitute is 12AY7, while checking I see a lot of 'they hum' comments.

Some suggested use 12AV7, lower gain, less/no hum.

maybe I should buy half a dozen, sell some on eBay to offset the high shipping cost. I wonder how many people want 6n4p's?

Thoughts, ideas______?

Tubes do not inherently "hum", unless a particular tube has a defect that causes hum.  Circuits in which we place tubes can be prone to hum if not designed properly, and most commonly hum is due to grounding problems. So use whatever is the recommended substitute for the 6N4P and stop worrying about nothing.  12AY7 is also known as 6072.  Both types are thought to be excellent sounding.  Most likely the Russkies copied the 12AY7 (a classic) and re-named it the 6N4P.  Furthermore, you should have a few thousand hours of use ahead of you before you even need to think about replacing tubes.

teo-audio

Who gave you the right to call me cheap?