Aesthetix Rhea & Calypso Tube Upgrade

I just checked Ebay (8/8) and there are 10 of the 7058 tubes I mentioned going for a total of $70, buy-it-now. These are NOS. That's more than I usually paid, but not bad.

What do you guys consider to be an 'Expensive' tube(s) ?

I have the Aesthetix Janus, and in my system, I have purchased a brand new stock set of tubes from Aesthetix, and I've also purchased NOS Amperex and RCA tubes from Andy at Vintage Tube Services. I will say that for the phono section, I liked the sound of both sets just fine. For the Calypso portion, however, the stock tubes sound rolled off and therefore dead except at quite loud levels. The VTS tubes sound much better.

There is no best tube. Synergy is the key. In my Calypso, I liked the stock 12AX7 tubes with my warm McCormack SS amp and warm NOS Mullard tubes with the cool NCore digital amps.

Bob

I've never found a "regular" 12AX7, either current or NOS, that could compare sonically with (either) the RCA or Sylvania 5751 triple mica black plates. For more on these tubes, as well as 6DJ8/6922 and 12AU7, I strongly suggest you read the (classic) Joe's Tube Lore here: http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/d.pl?audio/faq/joes-tubes.html