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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
promitheusaudio
1 posts
 
i bought a quad of kt88 from singapore for the price of USD216 from a season tube dealer which supplies a number of hifi stores in Singapore. I bought a quad of 6ca7 too for USD195.
they sound good. I have an amplitrex at1000 tester which i tested each of tubes. For the price their matching seems to be okay. they gm seems to be around
14ma/V with each to be within 0.357% of the mean average
For power tubes they easily pass microphonics and tested on the tester with headphone output. Gas test seem fine
For current they are about 0.5% of the mean average too. They are around 140ma on our tester

Strangely the KT88 seem to test very much better on matching than the 6ca7.
Well for the price if you would like better matching as advertise by some sellers you can get almost 2-3 quads for the price they are selling and match them from there. As the quads are rather okay in matching getting 3 quads should get you 0.1% easily for both gm and current for a quad

FOr the price these are great tubes. I got them from Ahfartaudio he regularly posts ads on echoloft.
sibelius
256 posts
 
I just got a pair of Treasure 2A3's that I put in over the weekend. They may not have broken in yet but I find them a little more aggressive than the NOS RCA's I have been using. Better extention on the top and bottom and more of a forward presentation. Good complement to the more laid back RCA's.
sherod
1,690 posts
 
I finally had a good month in my work and made enough extra income to finally buy a matched quad of the Shuguang KT88-Z Treasure Series. Only two hours in my VAC amps so I will jump back onto this thread after sufficient break-in and/or if I experience an epiphany. So far, I can hear some potential but similar break-in to previous Shuguang Kt88-98 and KT88SC models. Stay tuned...
glory's avatar
glory
1,614 posts
 
You guys need to update us on the tubes you are burning in.

Is the CV181Z as good as the TS RP??????
honest1
586 posts
 
OK, I've been meaning to get to this, thnaks for the prod. NOTICE: I used the old blue glass tubes, without the black coating inside. These were early production / prototypes, which are no longer available, but are supposed ot be very similar to the final (presumably better) black coated treasures. Using these in a pair of AtmaSphere MA1s, I found the Treasure CV181Zs to be on par with any of the old tubes I have used. I would not say better or worse, and I ended up using a combination of tubes to get the best sound. The Treasures have a nice even response, a lot of resolution, and an airiness. When I loaded up my MA1s w/ 4pair of theTreasures, though, it was too bright. It did take a while for me to figure it out, but adding in some Sylvnia WGT and RCA smoked glass resulted in a nicer sound.
The other thing that might surprise you about these tubes is their size. They use the same size bottle usually found on KT88s, and are quite impressive looking when you pull them out of the box. Make sure they will fit before you buy them. I stocked up on the blue glass ones, because I think beeing able to see the anode plates and the filament glow is an important part of owning tube gear, and I like the look of the blue glass. The opaque black tubes look cool in their own way, but I like to see inside.
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