EL34 tubes - RFT vs EI Yugoslavia [message #96903] |
Sat, 12 August 2023 03:58 |
kasperbergholt
Messages: 44 Registered: August 2021 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
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Clever people of the Table,
Back in February I got excellent feedback on a question regarding my, at that time, new Leben CS-600 amplifier - on its topology, watts usage and configurability with different output tubes of which 6L6/5881, EL34, KT77, 6L6GB, 350B, KT66, KT88 and 6550A are supported through two switches for cathode resistor value and and plate voltage value, respectively.
In contrast, the driver / preamp stage only supports 6CS7 tubes. I've acquired a lot of these (Sylvania, Tung-Sol, RCA, General Electric, amongst other) since they're out of production.
So now the time has come to experiencing with the output tubes.
Currently it's running with newly produced Sovtek 5881 tubes. Generally speaking, I'm very satisified with the tonality, but I feel it could get a bit extra fluidity and midtone 'presence' with a set of EL34 tubes.
My pickup is a Goldring 2400, my RIAA is Leben's RS30-EQ and interconnects are silver cables from Yannis Tonearm Cables. I suspect this combination to the sonic 'signature' to be on the lean side. And perhaps it's a mistake to try and compensate for this through EL34 tubes instead of the 5581s.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on this - and, in addition, love suggestions on which El34s to get - I'm interested in NOS tubes primarily.
I've seen some matched quads from RFT / Siemens and some from EI Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavia tubes seem to have an excellent reputation, so I'm considering these to begin with.
The output will be lower with the EL34 tubes - I think this could be a benefit as the amplifier will do a bit more work which I have a theory of could improve the sound because I generally listen to music at a very low volume.
All the best,
Kasper
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