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EL34 differences in air & stage depth?

I've been searching the threads trying to learn about differences between different EL34 tube offerings. Most comments seem directed at tonal qualities. I'm curious if any have compared and found differences in "air" and stage depth. My system is posted. The H-1 appears to come with Shuguang EL34s. It does many things well but I'd like a little more openess in the presentation. Possibly this means more mid-range forwardness and/or greater high end extension. Thinking about "tube rolling" (KT77s as well as EL34s). Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input.
128x128ghosthouse
mikewdc
22 posts
 
These were apparently made in the 70's. Not sure how I would verify that. For all I know they are chinese fakes (but I hope not!). I do know they really seem to have changed the sound--even over the SED Winged C's.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse OP
4,306 posts
 
Mike - wasn't trying to plant any seeds of doubt! If you don't mind, who did you buy them from? Thanks.
mikewdc
22 posts
 
No, no Ghosthouse, you didn't do that. I was really just referring to my own naivety. Got them on eBay (of course) from a guy in England. He has an eBay store -- search for Langrex. If you can tell me more about the tubes, that would be great.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
RAM Labs (Roger Modjeski) sells Siemens EL34s as well. Use them in my Music Reference RM9SE.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse OP
4,306 posts
 
Mike - OK. That's great. Let your ears be your guide!
I'm a total novice on this NOS tube thing. I wanted to do the Siemens but started to get confused when I saw the differential in pricing between NOS Siemens offerings: e.g., Upscale Audio vs The Tube Store vs The Tube Depot (I think I'm right on remembering Tube Depot). As I kept searching around to try and understand what was behind the difference in price I stumbled on this "Tube Classics" site. He has some great pictures and info but what really threw me was the statement on the site, "EL34 tubes made by Telefunken in West Germany are pretty rare and Siemens and Lorenz never made any EL34 tube." I guess tubes marketed by Siemens were made by others? (Phillips and Ei)?? Anyway, it all started to seem way too complicated (especially given the pricing, the existence of fakes and me not having a clue what I was doing). So I went with current production. If you got something that sounds good to you, great...that's all that really matters.

If you are interested, the Tube Classics site can be found here:
http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/SieTel%20EL34/EL34.htm

Pubul57 - thanks for the input. I'll check out RAMLabs.
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