EH EL34 vs EH 6CA7 in a Cary V12R

Tubes Asylum

Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ

About 6 months ago I upgraded to a Cary SLP 98 from the then discontinued SLP 2002. After about a month, I noticed a change in the sound of my amp, and took it to Cary to see if any my 6CA7s were off, or going bad. I don't have a tube tester(to be rectified this weekend)so I needed Cary to help me out. Neither Dennis nor Kirk were there, but another employee helped me out. He tested all the 6CA7s and sure enough one was somewhat lower than the others, and another was a little low.Since I had purchased them through Cary, they gave me 2 new EH 6CA7s.
I played the amp two days and decided to change back to the EH EL 34s, and was pleased with the more detailed sound. The whole system just sounded more right/balanced. That was with about 20 hours on the new 98 with stock tubes that I ran for about 80 hours. I then began about four months of tube rolling the 98 pre.
About two weeks ago I rolled in round plate Tung Sol 6SN7GTs in front and Raytheon VT 231s in back. You talk about your resolution, air and soundstage! Wo Doggies!! Along with this came a slight stridency on some female vocal sylabants. Instruments were fine. I noticed the same thing on the same CDs as I noticed on the same LPs. It was part of the recording.
I decided to return to the EH 6CA7s. Once again I have a tube system. It's easier to listen to. The stridency on those female treble vocale is smoothed over. Its still there, but doesn't call fore your attention. I can't wait to buy my Tube tester from Danny B this weekend and test all my EL 34s.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

Topic - EH EL34 vs EH 6CA7 in a Cary V12R - claud 15:42:22 09/16/04 (2)

Re: EH EL34 vs EH 6CA7 in a Cary V12R - claud 19:00:44 09/17/04 (0)

Re: EH EL34 vs EH 6CA7 in a Cary V12R - JamesV 08:26:15 09/17/04 (0)

You can not post to an archived thread.