New Coincident Frankenstein 300B Stereo Version

My experience with the Psvane WE tubes has paralleled that of @charles1dad.  As background, back in about 2014, I purchased a pair of Psvane Hifi series 101Ds.  They were a major step up from the only other current production tube available at that time, the Shuguang.  About 2-3 months after I bought the HiFi's (from  Grant), Psvane released the WE replicas, so I bought a pair of those from Grant.  Those gave me many years of good performance before failing.  At that point, I rotated the old HiFi tubes, which were old but had very few hours on them, back into service.   Within about 2 weeks, one of the HiFi tubes failed.  At that point, I became concerned that something was wrong with the preamp, since I was suddenly having tubes fail right and left (literally). 

So I contacted Israel Blume before shelling out another pile of cash on new WEs.  It was at that point that I became aware that Israel was offering the WEs for sale (at a premium over other vendors) and assured me that his (presumably hand picked) WEs would give excellent service, though is warranty was only for 3 months.  I've had the tubes for, I don't know, 3 years or so, and they are fantastic.  They sound even better than the first set I bought back in 2014.   

When the word got out about North American supply problems on this tube, I contacted Israel again and asked if I should buy a spare pair.  He assured me that he was experiencing no difficulty getting this tube and anticipated no difficulty in the future. 

I do hope that Linlai is able to address whatever issue may have led to unreliable service in the CSL.  The 101D is an amazing tube, and in my opinion, remains underutilized.  As much as I love my 6SL7s, the 101D WE tube beats every 6SL7 based design I ever heard. 

@brownsfan

I know that @sns is using the Lanlai Elite 101D in his CSL and has had no problems to my knowledge. So I suspect that the current production available via Grant Fidelity are of good quality. I may at some point give them a try but for now I’m very happy with the Psvane W.E. Replica 101D, very happy.

Bill, I also believe that the 101D is a brilliant preamplifier tube but for what ever reason is not even close in popularity compared to for example the 6SN7. I’m very familiar with the 6SN7 and it is no doubt a very fine tube. Of course implementation is a major factor in determining ultimate sound quality. What impresses me about the 101D is its sheer purity and transparency. It seems to have nearly zero editorializing qualities, yet is by no means sterile/lean/analytical, just pure.

If the rest of the audio system is capable then one will hear natural and beautiful tone, timbres, overtones/harmonics and very fine nuanced musical detail. Perhaps it’s a more difficult tube to work with and get right in an audio circuit. I’m glad Israel Blume decided to give it a go and develop the magnificent CSL.  for us hopelessly devoted music lovers’ 🙂

Charles

@charles1dad, the 6SN7 benefits from economy of scale.  More designers use the tube because they are cheap and readily available, and demand for the tube motivates more manufacturers to offer the tube, which in turn drives the price of the tube down.

The 101D never benefited from any of this.  It is tempting to draw a parallel between EL34 and 301B.  301B was always and always will be more expensive to manufacture than the EL34. 

Israel Blume stuck his neck way out when he designed the CSL around the 101D.  It wasn't a great preamp when all you could get was the Shuguang.  Kudos to him for taking the risk. 

It is a funny thing about tubes.  You can go for years, trying this tube and that, and they all have their virtues and weaknesses, then all of a sudden, you find that one tube that is sonically perfect.  For me, the Elrog 300B was that tube.  The old Siemens from the 6922 family fell into that category.  Got everything perfect, and nothing else came close to the Siemens.  The WE101D replica is that tube. No where to go but down.  Purity, transparency, detail, harmonics, tonality, it is all just right.  Oh my, have we drifted from the OP.

Oh my, have we drifted from the OP.

Yes, guilty as charged. You raised intriguing points (As usual for you) I felt compelled to comment on. Sorry. 😊

Charles

Duh! I had previously thought of asking Israel about good source for WE101, completely forgot about that route!

Sixmoons had an article some time back in regard to Linlai Elite tubes having early run failures. Grant Fidelity also mentions newer runs having greater reliability.

The Elite solid plate beats WE in some ways, just a bit more presence in mids, WE a little more recessed. Very natural timbre, highs slightly less spotlit than WE, bass comprable. For me, WE and Elite solid plate both equally brilliant, just slightly different flavors.