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Aric Audio Super 2A3 owners - favorite tubes?

Hello all,

I've been enjoying my new set of Aric Audio amps (the Super 6SN7 linestage + Super 2A3 amp) and have been playing around with different tubes. I am curious what tubes anyone who owns either of these prefers.

I swapped from the stock 5U4GB to some NOS RCA 5U4Gs, but not sure if there's anything better out there that owners may prefer rectifier-wise. Asking Aric, he said GB or G works fine, but beyond that didn't offer any other alternatives as far as compatible tube options.

For my 2A3 tubes, I have a set of NOS Svetlana SV-2A3 (2C4C) and EML 2a3-S Meshplates and prefer the EMLs. The Svetlanas sound nice - they are a little more 'warm' sounding to me - but they lack the detail and wide holographic soundstage that the EMLs produce.

For the 6SN7 tubes on both the pre-amp and the amplifier (3 total), I've tried Sylvania JAN 6SN7GT VT-231 2 Hole Bad Boy, Black Plates an d NOS RCA JAN 5692 6SN7 (red base) tubes and prefer the Sylvania's by a mile. Swapping from the Sylvanias to the RCAs, bass thinned out quite a bit. Detail was great, and mid/highs were nice, but the Sylvanias are overall much nicer.

What have you tried and liked / tried and kept?

128x128mmcgill829
mmcgill829's avatar
mmcgill829 OP
154 posts
 

@evank Interesting! What didn't you like about them? What tubes do you prefer personally?

Also side note - how do you like those spatial speakers? I heard their new Q3 at SWAF in March and was entranced, to say the least.

@alexberger  i typically like to stay away from grey market or ebay for tubes (especially new production) unless they are cheap tubes. Like I'm not going to be upset if a $10 DHT tube for my DAC is bad but I'm going to be upset if $150 preamp tubes are. Just personal preference though!

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evank
305 posts
 

@mmcgill829 

 

I just didn't find them too musical. I ended up sticking with the CBS ones that Aric had supplied. I also Like the Sylvanias but just not as much as the CBS. I tried some RCA's which had great midrange, but the lower end was too sloppy.

 

The Spatials are very transparent and dynamic and love the fact that they don't interact with the room as much as a conventional speaker.

mmcgill829's avatar
mmcgill829 OP
154 posts
 

@evank Interesting! Well I might be interested should you choose to move them, depending on cost.

That's good re: the spatials. The new Q3 models (pretty huge) threw out one of the most 3D soundstages I've heard in person. Pretty magical!

mmcgill829's avatar
mmcgill829 OP
154 posts
 

Has anyone used the KR 54UG or Sophia Electric 54UG? Bonus if you've used them and compared with EML Mesh 54UG or NOS RCA 54UGs.

alexberger
905 posts
 

NOS 5U4G RCA is not something special. I like Ken-Ran 5u4G. But Linlai 5u4g are on the same level and very cheap. I had a U52 GEC/Brimar brown base. It was really great, better than other stuff I had but it is crazy expensive now. I bought it when it was already used, and after 3 years it died. But to buy one today is too expensive.

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