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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
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.
guitarplayer
47 posts
 
John,

They will go through stages of sounding odd from time to time. IIRC--I found them great out of the box up until 50 hours, to be bright and spitty, with sloppy bass for maybe 100 hours after that, then they will really start to come around. After 300-400 hours, everything really snaps into focus and the bass really tightens up and becomes quick, tuneful and really quite good.

Peace,

Lee
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Not much for an update on tube break in as I've torn down my system to rearrange my rack but will have it back together and up & running today.

Rachel,
Thank you for your response, much appreciated. I figured something was amiss as I was comparing the specs of the two tubes side by side and it appears they are identical spec wise.

I spoke with Kevin Hayes and he said that we should be fine as long as the specs match. He asked me to let him know of my thoughts on the TT 181's so I think I'm going to be the guinea pig and give them a try.

Thanks again for all your help Rachel, it was a true pleasure dealing with you and Ian and I hope to call you here soon to place an order!

Arthur,

As I mentioned above I spoke to Kevin Hayes and I did ask him about your 300.1, he said the CV-181 should be good to go in either amp as long as it's the Treasure Tube CV-181Z, the older/or true 181's will not work as they do have a higher plate voltage. I hope this helps you!

Hi Sherod,
Thanks for the warm welcome! Man I love this amp, what an improvement it made. Shoot even my wife loves it, now that's an added bonus!! I'll post here as I get some more time on the TT KT-88's.

Hi Lee,
Thanks for the heads up, I think I'm currently in the "odd" stage at the moment, they were great out of the box and then took a little step or two backwards but, I had a feeling it was just break in. I haven't kept an accurate count on my hours but I think I'm probably around 65-75 hours or so. We'll see come this weekend as I plan on putting some serious hours on them....

Best,
John
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Quick update; I've had the amp on for two days straight now and was finally able to spend a few mintues giving them a listen late last night. The Treasure tubes are starting to sound better, bottom end is getting tighter, the midrange seems to have a little more punch to it but I'm not sure yet, and no doubt the top end is beginning to smooth out some. I've got to be close to or even a little over 100 hours now. I'll get to spend plenty of time with them this weekend, I'll keep ya posted....

John
johngp's avatar
johngp OP
226 posts
 
Ok now we're talking! I've kept the amp on since the 29th and last night I sat down for a serious listen. The Treasure tubes are definately going through a change for the better; the bass has tightened up allot compared to what we heard Sat/Sun and is now very nice and tight as well as they seem to be digging even deeper than before. The midrange punch is back with a vengeance and the highs have gotten much smoother and don't sound grainy at all. The highs are really nice and smooth now with no SSSibilance what so ever.

I must have somewhere in the range of 250 hours or so on them now so these babies do take a little time to break in but the wait is well worth it. I've heard they can take up to 300 hours but I'm very happy with their performance right now and if they get better than what I heard last night I'll be jumping for joy!

I'm no reviewer so I'm not too gifted word wise but, if any of you were having reservations about these tubes I highly recommend you give them a try, they aren't cheap-I'll admit that(what is in this crazy game we play), but they have proven to me to be worth every dime spent and I intend to retube whatever I can with them as funds allow, I'm that happy with them. I cannot wait to save up the coin and give the 181(6sn7) a go. I love these tubes!

Best,
John

Side note: One thing that was odd was for a day or two I seemed to have lost some of my imaging. We noticed that this weekend and it was noticable enough that we tried adjusting my speakers/seating position and never could get it right but as of last night everything has popped back into place and is rock solid. I haven't had that happen before with new tubes so keep that in mind if you decide to try these tubes.
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