Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

Hi Charles1dad

Yes, still use them, they are one of the best out there, build like a tank and if you have the correct production year, something like after 1999?, they must be problem free, however, they still tubes after all and can stop working just like that anyway and this is the biggest problem, if you compare to present production, you can't get replacement pair, unless you bought from dealer and they are dead within the warranty term, but like I said, they are running out soon, so, dead is dead:-(

I own KR Tubular type as well, which are AVVT made, but KR branded, and I am bit spare on 32B's as they will be harder to get pretty soon.

I think Takatsuki will be more delicate / bloomy vs 32B's, which are linear.

Regarding amp been used. I am convinced that in some amps tubes do not make that huge difference as in my Cary for example. The one I am talking about is Zanden 7000, which no longer made, but Royal Sophia's were great there, while in my Cary they were so so, if not less. Actually, AVVT's and KR's I own sound best in my Cary and if I had the free cash, I would buy another pair of 32B's

Let us know about AVVT vs Takatsuki's please.

THX

Hi max,
I've been using the AVVT SL 32b very regularly and must say it is a superb sounding tube in my amplifier. I will return to the Takasuki and then post my impressions.There won't be a loser IMO just different attributes they offer.
Regards,

Hi Max,
I posted my tube comparison on my system page tonight.
Charles,

Lately I have had quite a bit of experience with the Sophia Princess, Royal Princess and Sophia Mesh Plate, but only versus the EH Golden Lion 300B and the JJ 300B, both of which are pretty mid-level performance and sound wise.

The Sophia Electric tubes get consistently better as you go up the chain from the Mesh Plate and ending up at the Royal Princess. I was so impressed with the sound that we started recommending them to our high end customers.

Well this has started to become a real problem. Out of every single quad purchased, at least one has eventually failed. Up to a total of four failures now. And today I received an email from my best customer and he has experienced another burn-out. Disturbing to say the least.

When I started looking I am now finding several other manufacturers and private individuals that are experiencing the same thing as me. But still less than a dozen instances. The main thing being that a few weeks ago I could only find a couple of internet hits on the Sophia failures.

Is anyone else out there experiencing this situation?

We have actually had this occur in three different amplifier models with slightly different topography. We even upgraded a few of our mono blocks and stereo amps to try to make them more robust against possible burnouts by installing larger resistors on the power grid end etc.

Still, the new email came in.... same thing again.

So far all of the tubes have had shorts inside that caused visible sparks and pops, whereafter we find failed tube socket resistors of course.

Anyone else seeing anything like this?

The EH, JJ and WE are all still going strong without a single instance of failure. Even in some of the same amplifiers. Flawless against several failures. Seems hard to overlook.

What a shame because the quality of sound coming from this particular brand of vacuum tube is pretty darn fantastic. I absolutely love the incredible lifelike sound we were getting, so it is a real sad thing. At least it's good to hear about the Takatsuki TA-300B. Maybe my customers will give us a second chance now!

I used the Sophia Electric RP 300b for several months before getting the Takatsukis. I did not have any issues, but I did not use them hard or very long.