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Shuguang Treasure tubes....

I'm not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes....Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled "FRAGILE: GLASS!" was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever....or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!...right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they're this good right out of the box I can't wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I'm no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I'm one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the "CV-181", this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7's and I'm very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
128x128johngp
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the responses. So far I'm loving these darn things, great tubes! My original post was a copy & paste from last week that I didn't get around to posting so it's a few days behind my current posts.

I gave the system a good listen last night and it seems the bass has gone a tad mushy on me and the midrange has lost a little punch but I have a strong suspicion this is the TT's going through a break in period. I will keep y'all posted.

I went and printed out the specs on the GF Treasure tube CV-181 and the 6SN7 GTA and they have obviously designed the 181 to be a direct replacement for the 6sn7 as the specs are identical though the 181 is quite a bit larger in size. I REALLY want to try these tubes in my VAC, have a gut feeling they'll take it over the top-if they'll fit in there!

I do have a few NOS 6sn7's and I tried them in my Vac(RCA & Sylvanias) and though they were good I ended up prefering the sound with the stock Vac tubes back in there. Of course that is just my taste and may not be yours, that's the cool thing about this hobby.

Cruz,
Now I would like to give those Genelex reissues a try some day, a good friend of mine actually brought a quad over this past weekend and neither of us even bothered to remove the TT's and give the Genelex a try. We were just enjoying the music so much at the time we never got around to it, but someday I will give em a go. I'll be sure to post here when I do compare them.

Honest1,
I really do not think these are plain old Shuguangs in a fancy bottle. I'm no tube pro but due to their performance so far, compaing them side by side with a standard Shuguang etc. they seem to be a different animal altogether. I feel they are a very high quality tube and hopefully an option for getting NOS sound in new production tubes. Don't quote me on this but I think that Grant Fidelity offers a money back guarantee, if so give them a try and let us know what you think.

Best,
John
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Hi Ian,
I spoke to you on the phone about the tubes a few weeks ago, thank you for all your help. I really would love to give the TT CV-181's a try but I just read that review you posted and I have a question; in his review the gentleman states;

"This is why the CV181Z might not be a drop in replacement for the 6SN7. Typical 6SN7 heaters draw about 0.6A and the CV181z draws about 0.9A (900mA), the old Mullard CV181 drew 950mA. This 50% increase in heater current amounts to 0.6A for a pair of CV181 in a circuit, which as you can see represents the load of a whole extra double triode."

I printed out the specs for a standard RCA 6SN7 GTA and for the TT CV-181 and the specs on the TT CV-181 specify a draw of .6 MA not the .9 MA draw the reviewer states. Is he mistaken? I would worry if the 181 did draw .9 MA as my Vac needs a quad of them and that would add up to possibly to much current draw then wouldn't it?

Thank you for your time!

Best,
John
grantfidelity's avatar
grantfidelity
21 posts
 
Hi John, this is Rachel here from Grant Fidelity.

I spoke with both Shuguang and the TNT-Audio.com reviewer about the CV181-Z specs and compatability with other CV181 tubes. TNT-Audio.com's comments were based on reviewer's assumption that the Treasure CV181-Z was of the same spec as other CV181's. The reviewer is in the process to put a note to the original review to clarify the issue. (It's summer vacation time now so the website isn't updated weekly until later next month). The reviewer's comments about CV181 tubes vs. 6SN7 tube are valid to all conventional CV181's, but not to the Shuguang Treasure CV181-Z.

If you still have doubts or concerns before using the Treasure CV181-Z in your amps, do forward a copy of the specs (published on our website) to your amp manufacturer to get a final confirmation.

Thank you.
Rachel @ Grant Fidelity
arthursmuck
451 posts
 
John, can you ask about compatability for the CV-181Z and the Phi 300.1 when you ask about your 110? Thanks!
sherod
1,690 posts
 
John,
Welcome to the VAC family. You're going to really enjoy this Beta 110. I'm glad you are trying out these new Shuguang Treasure Series KT88-Z tubes. Supposedly they take 300 hours to fully break in. Ouch! Keep us posted on their progress. If you end up keeping these with a "thumb's up" then I'm going to buy a quad for my VAC monoblocs.
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