MKWingchun
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- Jul 22, 2023
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I built a kit Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid Preamp, about 25 years ago, and since it was inexpensive, I decided to splurge on caps and tubes. I got some Bugle Boy (not that expensive at the time, but considered some of the best, now and then) 12au7's. I was surprised that they didn't make any difference. I then tried a bunch of caps, and found they didn't seem to make much difference either. When I posted my results online, I was met with disbelief, and asked for the tubes and caps "I didn't appreciate."
When buying ChiFi gear, my friends and I have noticed that early on, the tubes and caps were sub par, and we would replace them with decent quality parts that sounded better. The Jensen caps that are blue, are good enough and really inexpensive. There are a lot of tubes that are good enough, including some Chinese government made tubes, but not all of them. Most modern tubes and caps are really good, they are made to spec.
Some old Chinese govt made tubes seem to have the same problems that some Russian govt made gear has with a lack of quality control in some areas. Russian missile and aircraft tubes = really good, Russian consumer grade radio tubes, not so much. There are exceptions that are surprising, though.
The IFI Retro 50 integrated amplifier uses what are called EL84x tubes, that are rebranded (painted over, and I scraped the paint off a bad one) Chinese military spec tubes. They are a EL84 variant, 6p15p-ev, that is a little more powerful, and better sounding (or at least they provided more bass and lower mids). The IFI tubes were not defective, btw. The previous owner had beat the amp with an ax, and I repaired it, so that's not an IFI or Chinses reliability problem. Also, small company ChiFi has gotten a lot better in terms of part quality. This was my first post.
When buying ChiFi gear, my friends and I have noticed that early on, the tubes and caps were sub par, and we would replace them with decent quality parts that sounded better. The Jensen caps that are blue, are good enough and really inexpensive. There are a lot of tubes that are good enough, including some Chinese government made tubes, but not all of them. Most modern tubes and caps are really good, they are made to spec.
Some old Chinese govt made tubes seem to have the same problems that some Russian govt made gear has with a lack of quality control in some areas. Russian missile and aircraft tubes = really good, Russian consumer grade radio tubes, not so much. There are exceptions that are surprising, though.
The IFI Retro 50 integrated amplifier uses what are called EL84x tubes, that are rebranded (painted over, and I scraped the paint off a bad one) Chinese military spec tubes. They are a EL84 variant, 6p15p-ev, that is a little more powerful, and better sounding (or at least they provided more bass and lower mids). The IFI tubes were not defective, btw. The previous owner had beat the amp with an ax, and I repaired it, so that's not an IFI or Chinses reliability problem. Also, small company ChiFi has gotten a lot better in terms of part quality. This was my first post.