Why do old tubes sound better than current tubes?


just wondering, is there something in the design, materials, or fabrication that makes old tubes sound better than those being currently produced?

it seems nearly universally held that old tubes are superior sounding to those made today - is there something specific about the old tubes that make then sound better?

-Scott
128x128srosenberg
Orpheus, yes, what I am looking to establish is a feel for how widely Gm1 and Gm2 tend to differ from each other. And if any correlation can be established between the degree of that difference and whether the tube is current production vs. vintage, or among brands.

The 5963's I was referring to are RCA's date-coded 57-31 and 57-35, with long black ribbed plates and square getters. My tester indicates a nominal Gm for 12AU7's of 2200. The tubes in question typically measured about 2700 for one section and 2300 for the other, which means that one section was about 17% higher than the other.

In most cases the section having the grid on pin 2 was higher than the section having the grid on pin 7, but in one or two cases it was the opposite.

Regards,
-- Al
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I have great things about the new gold lion 12ax7 also, I am going to try them soon.