Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

My Ren 30 has the VAC branded 300bs so I'm pretty sure that I've got some untapped potential. From what I've read from VAC, I am concerned about the Sophia RPs in the Ren circuit. At $2K to retube, I've gotta be sure that they are not gonna go "poof" or worse yet, take out an OT if they fail. It really sucks that I only have a pair each of the KRs and the AVVTs (bought 'em when I have a Cary that used only a pair). Anyone got a pair or 2 of BTs they wanna swap?

Swampwalker,

I've got 4 used BT's that I'm going to try in my REN 30 this weekend. I've only had the stock Vac tubes in the amp since purchase. The Psvane 6sn7's were a great improvement in this amp so I'm curious how the BT's will sound with the Psvane's

"I am concerned about the Sophia RPs in the Ren circuit."

Swampwalker, that’s a very reasonable concern but I don’t think that you have to leave the results to chance. If you would like to try the RPs, I suggest putting Kevin Hayes in direct contact with Richard Wugang of Sophia to see if a tube set can be specked for your amp.

Markus1299- Very interested in your results. I will tell you that I really liked the BT CV181s in place of the VAC branded 6SN7s.

Phaelon- Good idea, I should have thought of that. I do know that Kevin says that the tubes must be fully WE original spec compliant and I THINK he told me that mesh or carbon plates were not recommended.

Pretty certain carbon plate (not mesh) is the way you need to go for REN's. Keep in mind, Wavetrader had REN 140's and the standard Sophia Princess carbon plates had three or four of the 16 tubes fail within 2 years (outside the warranty period).