After all this praise for the Amperex 7308, it went and rained like mad last night. So there was nothing else to do but try the Telefunken 7dj8"s that I had but never tried. So far, they’re nice. Not thrilling, but nice. Remind me of the Brimars. I’ll leave them in for a couple weeks but I’ll surely go back to the 7308’s unless these open up to give me a reason to stay with them.
It’s only 1.5" taller than the P10, right? Just making sure my read of the specs was correct. I have self-made shelving and have an extra 4" above the P10.
I think sometimes a change is nice, even if ultimately you don’t like the difference. Always makes me appreciate the one I love more.
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Not bragging, just sayin’, mine is 11" tall.
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100 hours on the Telefunken 7DJ8’s and I’m very happy with these. I just spent some time back and forth with my favorite Amperex 7308’s and the Telefunkins are staying put. What an overall lift in fidelity!
RonP, I am having trouble keeping up with you from minute to minute!
I must admit I am beginning to worry about your tube-rolling hyperbole.
For me it sounded that your choice is/was the Amperex 7308?
Yet almost as soon as you claimed that item it was off to the races with but another choice…zowie!
I was all set to purchase a pair of your most highly recommend Amperex tubes. But perhaps I might be a little premature in contacting Upscale…
Maybe I need to sleep on it and see what happens tomorrow?
Thank you for your enthusiasm and in doing all the leg-work for me. Ha ha
Happy Labor Day Ron
Regards,
Ian
Ian
Of all the tubes I’ve tried, the Telefunken 7dj8’s and Amperex 7308 are the only ones I’d consider buying hereon. And either one will sound wonderful (in my system). I would be quite happy with either.
Thanks Ron.
Pleased to hear of your stabilization judgement.
I am still mentally invested in the Amperex 7308’s and concenious indicates that this tube might be the way to go for the long term.
For me, I want to not keep going down the rabbits hole in chasing nervarna.
Plus it’s way to tiring to keep making tweak changes daily.
I think we can all agree with that point, right?
Anyway thanks for the conformation.
I am listing to the BHK Pre for most of the afternoon and it is so sonically wonderful and a joy to hear the improvement it made to my system.
Cheers,
Ian
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Ron
I just noticed that both tubes are 6/7 volts, am I correct in that assumption?
If so then are you running 5ma? As well as changing the voltage setting from 12 down to 6 volts?
Yes, they are 7 volts and they are running at 5mA as designed. This is a quote from BHK:
“BHK signing in here - … the 6/7 volt tubes are SUPPOSED to be run at the 5 mA setting and the 12AU7s are supposed to be run at 4 mA. This from the designer who defined these operating currents!”
Good morning to you Ron,
Its Tuesday the day after the Labor Day Weekend.
I trust that you enjoyed yourself with your PTO?
In any event, I am wondering where things sit with regards to which ‘tube’ is your up to the moment recommendation?
Or possibly have things changed since we last spoke?
For me, its always called ‘catch-up’ (and not the red stuff) Ha.
Just wondering as usual…
And thank you for your info in the correct nomenclature of both of your front-running tube selections. I suspected as such but again thank you for the clarification.
Regards,
Ian
I still have the Telefunken 7DJ8’s in and they’re doing a good enough job that I don’t feel motivated to change them. We listened all weekend, Sunday at party levels and I was never disappointed.
I don’t think of tubes as something that will make up for a shortcoming in my system. I look for an enhancement, perhaps of some characteristic of my system that I already like. A tweak.
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I’m digging the Amp 7308, especially with 80+ hours. Mellowed the top just a touch. Tubes are like spices, I like most of them for one reason or three.
The Amperex’s do seem to have a bit more texture and no glare at all.
Wow this is turning out to be quite a ‘horse race’ between the Amperex and the Telefunken tubes.
One moment I am leaning towards the Amperex then the next moment I slide the other way…
Like you mentioned RonP, I agree with your assessment in that tubes or any other tweak will not make up for any glaring shortcomings of a system.
But an enhancement I would think we are looking for, hence all the tweaking that one does.
So brett66, it would seem that you are still sticking with the Amp 7308!
Good for you…
Plus its fun to ‘fiddle’ with our hobby and raise the enjoyment level if we can, right?
So I am excited to see what ‘tomorrow’ will bring!
The horses are running down the back straight…
Perhaps the goal post is not quite in sight yet!
Well, I’ve only had the Amp 7308 for a few days. I only have experience with PSVanes (stock BHK pre) and Tungsram BHK Select from Uncle Kevvy at Upscale. The Tungsram are nice but get quite noisy over time. The Amperex I bought from RAM and they are very quiet.
I also have some new to me Brimar CV4003 to try one of these ‘rainy’ days.
Sandrock, don’t take any one of our opinions with anything more than a grain of salt. You must try them in your system with your ears to know if you like them.
There is no end game or goal here for me, other than does the change (tube) make me tap my toe more than another. I get far more tweaker enjoyment out of tube changes than I do cables, meh.
@RonP Being a besotted fan of the Amperex 7308’s, I am curious to understand how the Telefunken 7DJ8’s differ in sonic presentation and why this is working so well for you. Please share your thoughts! TIA
Brett, thanks for sharing. I recently purchased a couple of Tungsram tubes from Uncle Kevvy at Upscale but the sound just did not do it for me. It seemed that the sound went in the other direction and sounded lean and thin in comparison to the stock tubes.
I also understand your comments regarding the ‘players-choice’ with regards to tube selection and I agree that everyone has their own opinion but then again if there is a strong conscious of opinion for a particular item or issue then perhaps there might be some validity in going with the flow as it were.
And yes it is ‘fun’ to play-with and tweak one’s system to try and achieve sonic perfection.
So tomorrow is another day and I am excited to see what it brings…
Happy listening my friends, happy listening…
Hmm–“besotted”–I like that one.
I must say that I would be equally happy with either the Telefunken or Amperex.
When I first tried the 7308’s I felt that I found the perfect tube. There was nothing to not like about the sound–far above all other tubes I’ve tried.
But in clearing out a bunch of tubes for sale, I found the Tele’s that I forgot i had. So I tried them and they sound remarkably similar to the 7308’s.
I like to give tubes about 100 hours–probably much more than they need. Eventually, I’ll probably go back to the 7308’s.
Finally, the tubes I bought to keep as spares are the Amperex’s not the Telefunkaroonies.
Well ‘hot dog’ there Mr. Ron…Hot doggies!!!
Speaking of ‘besotted’ is that you speaking or the merlot speaking?
Not that I am against fine wine in fact red is my most favorite.
If so then ‘crank-it-up’ my son, give the knob a twist…