Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

Antigrunge,
Have you heard the Sophia Royal Princess? that and the Takatsuki seem to be competitors. Where can you buy the Takasuki and how expensive are they? It seems it could be quite special.
Regards,

From whom did you order the Takatsukis and how much were they? TIA

western electric 300b's

The Sophia Royal Princess seems over priced to me.
If I'm not mistaken it is a re-labeled TJ Fullmusic 300B SE which goes for $700 on eBay.
Even with shipping in doesn't reach $1,200 so what gives?
Meanwhile Psvane 300B-T which is an improvement over the former Shuguang Treasure Z (as warm and liquid but more sparkle on top, more transparency and better bass control) goes for $510 and KR goes for $525.
Is the Royal Princess that much better? I have some doubts but than we are in the hobby of diminishing returns.
Of course the circuit of the amp and the interaction with the speakers may give an edge to one set of tubes over the other so this discussion becomes somewhat subjective.
Case in mind is a friend of mine heard the TJ Mesh Plate in some SET galore in Hong Kong and thought it was super sweet as output tube but as a driver tube in my amp we both thought that although it was more transparent and airy than the Shuguang Treasure, it was bright, a bit grainy and gave a flatter presentation than the Shuguang Treasure.
The Treasures are not the last word in transparency or air but are very liquid, dense and present very good image depth which is quite seductive.
My latest experience is that the Psvane 300B-T are a noticeable improvement.

Doron,
Thanks very much for your impressions. I use the Shuguang Black Treasure(BT) and love them in my Coicident amplifier. If the Psvane is a step above the BT then I`m interested. Israel Bloom(Coincident) said the BT and Psvane were very close with a minimal edge to the Psvane(could be amplifier dependent). If the Psvane is as you say then 510 dollars is fair IMO.

Are you certain the Royal Princess is just a TJ Full Music SE relabled? Have you personally compared it to the Psvane 300b? If they`re close sonically then the RP is overpriced. Have you any experience with the EML 300b? I`ll say this, the BT in my Frankenstein amp is perhaps the most transparent match I`ve yet heard in a home audio system. If the Psvane tops that then all I can say is wow!

Best Regards,

Charles