Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes

@tksteingraber

I agree with you that vintage tubes are like vintage wines.

There is no best one but they have different flavor.

I recommend you to get 6f8g tubes from Ebay.

Tungsol got overpriced, but you may get RCA, Sylvania, National Union or Raytheon 6f8g  at reasonable price if you keep searching.

You need adapter which is also avaiilable at Ebay.

Good luck!

Thomas

@shkong78 Thanks for your response and recommendation.  Can you give me your opinion on how the 6f8g compares to the 6sn7?  Is it worth the plunge?  Selection is pretty limited driving prices.  
Tom

@tksteingraber 

6F8g tubes tend to sound fuller than regular 6sn7.

Thus it may depend on your system and taste which one to choose.

Thomas

@tksteingraber I have found that the National Union 6F8G round plates are very special tubes in my Supratek Syrah. I also have the NU 6SN7 round plates and the NU 6F8G sound better in every way. Also have Tung Sol VT-231 round plates (transparency kings), KenRad VT-231 staggered plates (bass kings), Sylvania T-plates, Baldwin flat plates, Sophia Electric, and Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z and the NU 6F8Gs are my “go to” tubes.

Keep in mind that the Supratek power supply’s rectifier tube paired with the output tubes has a significant influence on the sound (I like the Phillips 5R4G rectifier with NU 6F8G while the Mullard 5AR4/GZ34 Fat Base rectifier pairs better with the TS round plates IMO), so some mixing and matching of rectifiers is important.

Re: Raytheon 6F8G T-plates vs flat plates, the T-plates are much easier to find but the flat plates (scarce as hen’s teeth) are said by many to be significantly superior sonically.

@dlcockrum Great info many thanks!