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In Reply to: New 12au7 options, VAC PA amp posted by dpy on June 11, 2009 at 07:09:15:
PHOTO: CBS JHY 5814A and below, La Radiotechique 12AU7WA
dpy,
Perhaps it is I who am confused, but if you are in fact using La Radiotechnique 12AU7s in your VAC 100, those are Philips France and completely different from the "RFT" mentioned in your post, which were East German manufacture.
Tubestore is currently offering the Radiotechnique for about $40 and RFT's for $30 each.
Whether you are using Radiotechnique or RFT, and apparently there are no signs of impending doom, my recommendation would be to take your time and look into some of the NOS alternatives. After all, these tubes apparently last a long time in your VAC amplifier and what if you spend an extra $40 or $60 over 10 years-? In my view $4 to $6 per year is not lavishly throwing money away- especially on a $XXXX piece of equipment.
It's true one has to be careful on Ebay, and dealers charge more, butI still recommend buying NOS from dealers, but you can trust and even possibly exchange tubes with dealers who are going to be more thorough in testing and selection.
If you take your $15 budget and make it $40 each- or adding $5 per year to your audio listening, I think you find some superb choices. Because my 12AU7 use is vintage, I have tended to like the more energetic 12AU7s's like the Siemens triple mica 5814A or E82CC- which could be in a $40 budget on Ebay, and the refinement of the 7316-(the nearly perfect 12AU7 variant) which might be in that range on German Ebay. But there are available and good NOS for the budget minded- I'm planning to use the CBS black plate 5814A in a Scott 330 mono tube tuner- a wonderfully spatial and refined tube like the 7316, and there are a number of nice old Raytheon 5814's- all reasonably priced and common. They may have a slight darkness to them, but the RCA "Command" black plate 5814A may actually fall into your $15 budget-I bought these two years ago for $8 NOS- and they are relatively easy to find. Overall, the ordinary Philips/Amperex/Valvo ECC82 from the early to late 60's is really good- and anyway may be what you've been using if the current ones are Radiotechnique- and there are many, many around.
As you seem to have time, and it's a long term purchase for an expensive amplifier, have another look around at NOS- there's bound to be something easy to get and not terribly expensive that would be noticeably more satisfying- and for the next ten years!
Happy hunting!
Cheers,
Bambi B
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Follow Ups
- "RadioTechnique" 12AU7's instead of "RFT" ? and the virtues and pleasures of NOS - Bambi B 06/12/0909:56:46 06/12/09 (0)