PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" 2020 production run of small signal/driver tubes

@johnss @milpai @audioman58 checking back on the PSVane 12aXX "Art Series" tubes. Are you still using them?

I ask becauseI kept using my MKIIs and went a bit sideways this past few years rolling back through my best vintage 1960s tubes, Mullards, others for a while.. For the holidays past week I decided to try some re-issue Gold Lyons 12au7 12at7 pairs for my monoblock amps. Realized I had not tried them before - never did. Bought two pairs. Bummer, must have gotten a bad batch or they were not packed well after match testing - and from a reputable seller too. Sounded really good for 8hrs then started popping/crackling really bad. Thankfully, sent them back today. Had to go back to my vintage Mullards and then retried my PSV MKIis. Still pretty smooth. @audioman58 felt the Art Series were better made/constructed, IIRC.  

Reading back through this thread I realized I never tried the Art Series like you guys did. I’m wondering if all of you are still fans and still happy with your Art Series small tubes - and/or still using them?

@decooney ,

I see that you revived the thread after almost 3 years. Things changed between then and now. I did try a pair of NOS Mazda 12AU7 and loved them for their naturalness and definition in general. I had purchased warranty of 2 years on them and wanted to preserve them. Close to that time, a Psvane representative on this forum mentioned about the new Horizon series tubes, which he said were more neutral compare to the ART series. I had "alright to very good" experience with the Psvane tubes, as you have read my experience above. So I decided to give them a try.

For me, these are so much better than the Art series in every way. I found that they present the music without adding anything to it. I have experienced the "warmth" with the Genalex. But I liked the naturalness of the Mazdas. These fall along the Mazda lines, so much that I did not bother to take the Mazdas out now. Honestly, I like these better than the Mazdas in the bass, there these are a bit more taut. And these are priced at $49 (I paid $55) for the pair, on Amazon. So you really lose nothing and can return them if you did not like them. There are a couple reviews that compare these to the Art Series.

The only concern for me is - how long will these last? I installed them at start of September; so nearly 4 month now. They have been doing their thing and I have not focused on them. I am just happy that they allowed me to enjoy the DAC upgrade very recently. Hope this helps.

@milpal The only concern for me is - how long will these last?

This is the question for me too. I’m now holding off on reselling any of my vintage collections of 12au7, 12at7 tube pairs. This is a result of tube failures after 8hrs use of new Gold Lyon pairs - argh. Awaiting a refund now. My 2yr old pair of PSVane MKIIs are working fine, I just put them back in play for now. All vintage stuff stored.

Looking closer at the PSvane "Art Series" I noticed something familiar. They look a similar to the former TJ Full Music small tubes. The son of TJ Full Music told me a few years back they sold off all the tooling for those smaller tubes to PSVane. Wondered what happened with all of that. Yesterday I saw this on TubeAmpDoctor site for the PSVane Art Series 12au7 description,

Quote, TAD:

https://www.tubeampdoctor.com/en/search?sSearch=12au7

"Psvane 12AU7-S Art-Series, Matched PAIR (2 tubes)

The all new 12AU7-S Psvane Art series is supplied as a factory matched pair. A completely new production based on the manufacturing technology obtained from Full Music. The development and material composition of the...

Seems like it might be true. Interesting considering PSVane is capable of desighing and building their own tubes, yet they may have leveraged this from TJFM. Interesting.

As for Horizon Series from PSVane, the main thing I read is they needed to offer a "lower cost tube", and how its a neutral sounding tube, as you’ve noted. I’ll look for more PSVane Art Series vs. Horizon Series reviews, Thx.

Found the more recent thread where a member @alightronics is representing communications for PSVane about the new Horizon vs Art Series, in response to @milpai. Good to read, thx

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2703446

Found the more recent thread where a member @alightronics is representing communications for PSVane

That is the one I had linked in my response earlier today.