I am afraid that I am going to disappoint all of you.
The backstory: My amplifier contains a protective circuit. My first pair of Royal Princess 300b tripped the protective circuit after about 30-45 minutes. The folks at Sophia Electric asked me to bring in the Shuguang Black Treasures that I was using "successfully" as well as the Royal Princess 300b that tripped the protective circuit. The Shuguangs drew 41mA; the Royal Princess drew 68mA - these were then swapped for a pair of Royal Princess that drew 41mA and that have been working fine ever since.
Yesterday, I inserted the Takatsuki TA-300; and after 30-45 minutes, they also tripped the protective circuit - just like the first pair of Royal Princess. When I looked at the measurements that came with the tubes, their current was also listed as 68mA.
So. . . I only was able to listen for a short while before the amplified shut down. But with the caveats that I listened to a brand new pair and only for a short time, my impression was that the TA-300b were at least as good at the Royal Princess and probably better. . . smoother, more musical, more holographic. That is as good as I am going to be able to do. Sorry to disappoint, but I am even more disappointed.
Where do I go from here? First, I asked the Japanese company whether there were any TA-300b tubes that drew less current. The Western Electric standard was 60mA, and the listed standard for the TA-300b was 65mA. Knowing the Japanese mania for adhering to standards, I got the expected reply "Even In Western Electric'300B there are almost plus minus a few 10mA's tolerance. Takatsuki's Ip tolerance is strictly regulated than WE and also the deviation on matched pair must be very narrow, that means superior matched pair. You don't worry about the specification and quality on Takatsuki's 300B." In other words, no. A second possibility is to send the amplifier back to the designer to have him change the protective circuit; it seems that he miscalculated considering that the two sets of tubes that tripped the protective circuit were close to the WE 300b standard. Unfortunately, Jarek is in Krakow, Poland; and I am in Washington, DC.
The conclusion. . . Is anyone interested in an almost new (less than 1hr use) pair of Takatsuki TA-300b? Unless I hear something different from the distributor in Japan, the likely future is to list them on Audiogon. Sigh.
