Blue Hawaii Special Edition

[nopants]

That would be the one Justin is burning in, I purchased Amos's spot in line. I wasn't aware pabbi tried to tackle a BH, I bought some parts off him earlier this year when he mentioned he wanted out of DIY for the time being.

[Audiojunkie]

..... I purchased Amos's spot in line......

 

Wait...what?

Edited October 23, 2014 by Audiojunkie

[morphsci]

The BHSE does not have enough plankton for Amos.

[nopants]

Wait...what?

he was selling his queue spot at cost (plus fees and exchange rate) so I took over his place in line for the price of the preorder

I was too curious about the grounded grid part of things so I went with it on impulse

Edited October 23, 2014 by nopants

[spritzer]

Perhaps it was the pure terror of owning anything from The Gilmore Group or the lack of an industry insider consideration (reads should be free)....

[shellylh]

So the SED Winged C seem reasonably price and they seem to sound good.  I was trying to remember why I didn't get a quad before and then I ran across these posts.  What is the chance that a set of the Winged C will die AND take out the amp and/or amp+headphones (compared to another obtainium* set of tubes like the reissue Mullards, or other non-NOS tubes)?  

 

If I buy from Upscale Audio, might I have a better chance of a good set (I think Marc said they had the older version at least in the past). It seems that all the tubes that available are crap (in terms of quality control)?

 

*At this point a good quad of NOS Mullards seems unobtainable for me. 

 

Shelly, I wouldn't purchase SED tubes at this point. I've learned, after seeing a tube of a SED quartet dying on my BH and causing some damages which needed specialist care, that they're not in production anymore. Some quartets or pairs being sold as matched, are just put-togethers from leftovers.

Considering I've had the chance to compare the SED and the JJs, I'd recommend you getting a good matched quad of JJ. Matched pairs also will do great, settings are completely separate for both channels.

 

 

I had 1 new quad used them at a meet and 1 tube died


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shellylh]

Does anyone know anything about Cathedral Stone Music Publishing?  Their webpage seems to indicate that they have matched quads of Mullard XF2 (not cheap though). 

 

http://www.cathedralstone.net/Pages/MullardEL34finalm.htm

[luvdunhill]

Cool they offer two point matching at customer defined operating points. I would try them. Unfortunately I wouldn't call those prices "not cheap", as if they can deliver the value add service they claim, $150/ea seems reasonable to me.

[shellylh]

Marc are you being serious? It sometimes hard to tell. If so, since I don't know what "two point matching at customer defined operating points," should I ask for something besides a matched quad?

Edited October 24, 2014 by shellylh

[Dusty Chalk]

Upscale audio isn't famous for being cheap, neither.

 

Just a datapoint.

[Dave R]

I like the SED Winged C’s best.

Tried Psvanes, XF4’s, RFT’s and JJs.

 

Psvane’s sounded amazing, but the quality was rubbish... 

I've been using the Psvane PH's with my BHSE since January without any problems, and since using the PH's I find the SQ from my 009's has more body with comfortable highs.

I also have a quad of SED Winged C's ( which I haven't used since getting the PH's ) and I found those tubes made my 009's sound thin with uncomfortable highs.

I've read the NOS Mullard XF2's are regarded as better than the PH's, so I'll probably try and get hold of a quad when I've the spare money, but in the meantime I'm very happy with the PH's.

[n_maher]

I am assuming you are being serious Marc, sometimes it's hard to tell.  If so, since I don't know what "two point matching at customer defined operating points,"  should I ask for something besides a matched quad? 

 

In this instance I believe that he's being serious since the only type of "matching" that is really of any value is if you match tubes based on the operationg conditions under which they will be asked to perform.  Tubes have an operating curve and just because two points happen to align between two tubes does not give much, if any, confidence that the remainder of the curves will be similar.  So matching at a user-defined operating point allows for far better determination of whether or not the tubes will perform similarly when put into service in a particular application.  If you want this better type of matching you'll need to get some advice about what operating points to specify which I believe will have both a voltage and current specification.  I hope that helps.

[shellylh]

Thanks Nate. Justin, Kevin, Birgir, or others: Do you have advice about what operating points to specify?

[spritzer]

Nate is right that tube matching is essentially a fruitless exercise.  If we leave aside the drift of the circuit in general then the tubes will wear out at different rates so any matching will not last. 

[johnwmclean]

I've been using the Psvane PH's with my BHSE since January without any problems, and since using the PH's I find the SQ from my 009's has more body with comfortable highs.

I also have a quad of SED Winged C's ( which I haven't used since getting the PH's ) and I found those tubes made my 009's sound thin with uncomfortable highs.

I've read the NOS Mullard XF2's are regarded as better than the PH's, so I'll probably try and get hold of a quad when I've the spare money, but in the meantime I'm very happy with the PH's.

 

I don’t find the SED Winged C’s thin, I’ve not had any issues of uncomfortable highs in my system using the 009’s, I would expect this to be a source issue if anything?

 

The Psvane company practices are dubious, the local market gets flooded with b stock crap (which lands on ebay). The only reliable place it seems to source from is a third party company who demand a better spec for their exported tubes. I can only surmise Psvane have a very poor yield of decent quality tubes.

 

I found it odd that the dam things sounded so good with such poor built quality, my quads rattled mechanically with extraordinary loudness.

 

Phillips replica indeed, Stanley Mullard would be rolling over in his grave.

[Dave R]

I don’t find the SED Winged C’s thin, I’ve not had any issues of uncomfortable highs in my system using the 009’s, I would expect this to be a source issue if anything?

 

The Psvane company practices are dubious, the local market gets flooded with b stock crap (which lands on ebay). The only reliable place it seems to source from is a third party company who demand a better spec for their exported tubes. I can only surmise Psvane have a very poor yield of decent quality tubes.

 

I found it odd that the dam things sounded so good with such poor built quality, my quads rattled mechanically with extraordinary loudness.

 

Phillips replica indeed, Stanley Mullard would be rolling over in his grave.

I'm only going with what I was hearing which was a similar problem I had with the stock mullard's, however I'm not having the same problem with the PH tubes even though the same source is being used.

Well before I got the PH's, I read about their build quality being an issue, which is why it took me sometime before I ordered some, and I only did that after Grant Fidelity were offering some kind of guarantee.

Some have said they get a noise from their PH's, but the only noise I get is a kind of crackling sound which only happens when I first turn on my BHSE, but this noise isn't loud and goes to virtually no noise after a couple of minutes.

[johnwmclean]

Well I did purchase the Psvane quad from ebay... But returned them.

I'd be interested to known how many hours you eventually get out of those tubes.

[Dave R]

Well I did purchase the Psvane quad from ebay... But returned them.

I'd be interested to known how many hours you eventually get out of those tubes.

 

I believe TheAttorney got his first quad of Psvane's on eBay, to which I think he also had problems with them, Golfnutz on the other hand got his from Grant Fidelity and AFAIK had no problems with them until they eventually packed up, I'm not sure how long that took to happen though.

It was from Golfnutz I got the recommendation of getting them from GF, and I've been using them since January 2014 without any problems, in fact because I was so impressed after first hearing my 009/BHSE with the PH's, I bought another quad.

Goldnutz has the NOS Mullard XF2's [ I think ] and prefers them to the PH's, but I'll be waiting until my PH's pack up before I decide to get any of those NOS Mullard's, assuming there'll be any available when that time comes.

[DefQon]

You have to becareful with purchasing some of the Psvanes that cost less for a reason on ebay - low grade binned rejects from there factory that failed grade A category equivalents (costing abit more $$).

I lost agood chunk of money buying Psvanes for cheap on ebay, 12v dual triode family, el34's, 6bq5's, 6sn7 etc, they either hummed on day 1 or not long after, mechanical ringing if tap the vacuum glass or red hot glow on the plates. Bought from there distrib list of dealers and has been wonderful since as well as there sound, giving some rare and highly tiered NOS a run for there money or sounding better sometimes.

Ps im bit drunk so may not make sense.

Edited October 26, 2014 by DefQon

[spritzer]

I wouldn't touch this Shuguang crap with a 10 foot pole.  In a normal tube amp them burning up and shorting would be bad but in the BHSE it would be catastrophic. 

[Dave R]

When I got the SRM-007t in 2000, after a couple of years I could hear a difference in the sound coming from my then 007mk1's, so I had the tubes changed which cost me around £200, the second time it happened I decided to change the tubes myself.

I used both the 007t and 007mk1's as part exchange in 2011 for the source have, so if I start to hear a difference with the SQ from my 009/BHSE, then I'll change those PH's straight away and throw them.

When that happens I'll be biasing the second quad of PH's I have like I did with the first quad and my SED's.

I only started doing the tube biasing with my BHSE after seeing the video Justin did which I'd like to thank him for doing, without that video I don't think I'd dare try doing the biasing myself.

[Jon L]

I wouldn't touch this Shuguang crap with a 10 foot pole.  In a normal tube amp them burning up and shorting would be bad but in the BHSE it would be catastrophic. 

 

Could you remind me why tube failure would be worse in BHSE?

[spritzer]

It's obvious from the schematic. 

[Ali-Pacha]

Justin does offer Shuguang treasures tubes for BHSE, but doesn't want to hear about Psvane EL34PH because of reliability issues. Isn't it the same company ? 

Ali

[johnwmclean]

so if I start to hear a difference with the SQ from my 009/BHSE, then I'll change those PH's straight away and throw them.

 

That’s assuming it’s not a sudden departure from the mortal world and you’re not left was a catastrophic scenario.

Edited October 27, 2014 by johnwmclean