I purchased from him and have had great experiences. To put it simply he cares about audio and his products. He prefers phone calls over email. I like that type of service. Patience is a virtue that can lead to great service.
After 934 hours on 1958 CBS-labelled 5814WA I’ve gone back to a proven set of 1955 GE 6189 with 341 hours on them…but just cold from the box literally 2 mins ago.
Both very nice flavored tubes with the GE being just a bit grittier-livelier and euphonic and the CBS being more polite, clear and focused.
Based on my last year of tube hours, we listen about 400 hours a month. Wow! Seems like a lot when I see it in hours/month.
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Hi, I got a pair of Gold Lion 12AU7, platinum grade, cryo treated, from Upscale Audio to try in my BHK Pre, to compare with the original PS Audio’s, mainly to see if less hiss. I found that the hiss was still there, I guess it’s inherent to the BHK Pre. However, another unexpected issue: now there was the volume control clicking sound from the speaker, only the right speaker, the clicking occurred every time I press the volume button on the remote (or turn the volume nob), at all the volume level, from the left speaker I could only hear the clicking at volume 24-25 and 51-52. First I thought the issue may be the tube for the right channel. However, after I swapped the tubes, the clicking again was only from the right speaker. Please advise. Thanks.
That’s normal. The clicks at those detents are relays switching in the BHK to manage gain.
I have never found a tube that with the BHK didn’t have some level of hiss within six inches of the tweeter so no hiss at all is not achievable. The increased clicking noise level to me indicates the tubes do not in fact have matched triodes. If you are trying to run the BHK single ended then it will always click to some level. I bought my GL’s from the Tube Store and while they are not the best sounding they are the quietest tubes I have tried in the BHK. I don’t buy tubes from Kevin anymore.
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This is correct and as the tubes change so too will the clicks. If you’re running balanced cables out of BHK those should be less, but much depends on the tube choice.
Any explanation why the continuous clicking only came from the right speaker even if I switched the positions of the two tubes? Thanks.
In my experience, this is caused when the two tubes don’t match each other in gain. It’s one of the reasons I stopped buying tubes from Upscale.
For what it’s worth, I’ve found 1970’s Russian Voshkod 6n23p’s to work superbly with no clicking whatsoever on volume changes (running balanced) and they are as quiet as any tubes I’ve used in the 6922/12au7 families. They don’t even transmit electrical clicking noise to the speakers on the 24-25 volume change (although you hear the relay clicking inside the preamp of course.) You have to pay at least $50-70 a pair to get properly matched and tested pairs, avoid the really cheap ones.
I too am on the hunt for the quietest tubes possible to put into my BHKpre.
I am near field with highly sensitive speakers. I also have my home theater in this room so I MUST have a silent background. Before this I had a Schiit Freya+ which is excellent for the price. The BHK bests it on all high aspects but its nearly a magnitude more expensive. The other thing that was great about the Freya was its volume knob was basically an attenuator adjustment. This allowed me to bring the level down to have ZERO hiss even with the tubes engaged. Phenomenal. I so wish the BHK had something like this.
Ive tried Tungsram ecc88s, GL12au7, and GLec88s. The 6v tubes had more hiss from what I can tell. Right now I have the GL12aU7s in.
Has anyone had luck with the in-line attenuators? Ive read some stuff on the forums already but just revisiting the topic.
For someone with such specific needs I’d strongly recommend giving Andy a call at Vintage Tube Services and discussing your issues. I don’t know anyone that more carefully tests and grades tubes than Andy does and I’ve never had him sell me anything that wasn’t exactly as described. If you check his listings for small signal tubes you’ll see he usually offers four grades of tubes depending on your noise requirements. It’s usually best to give him a call rather than emailing him.
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The quietest tubes I ever used in my BHK pre were Matsushita 7DJ8.
And they sounded great also.
They’re not 6 volt Telefunkens, but they are what you’re looking for imo.
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Shuguang 12AU7-TG black tubes were dead silent for me. I had to put my ear to the speaker to hear it. I’m now running Brimar CV4003.
12AU7 which are slightly hissier. Tungsrams were highly hissy and obvious.
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I have a set I need to give another listen. I have a number of 12v tubes that I like, are quiet and rotate every 600 hours or so, about every 6 weeks to 2 months to keep things fresh and new
Upon second extended listen I have always found new characteristics to enjoy with each set.
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Thanks for the advice. He’s not there until July 6th. Bummer haha
No thoughts on the in-line attenuators?
Out of curiosity, what is the sensitivity rating of your speakers and are you using a BHK250 to drive them? I have a set of Rothwell in-line attenuators and they are meant to be used to rectify gain mismatches between source or preamp and amplifier. If you are using a BHK preamp and amplifier together, there is no mismatch that needs correcting.
They are Tekton DIs (99db sensitivity)
Thanks for they reply. If there is no gain mismatch then hopefully it will decrease the preamp hiss. My setup is particular in that I need it to be very low. I plan to try some attenuators to see if it will decrease the hiss overall without destroying sound quality.
If I can’t achieve this, then I will have to get rid of the BHK Preamp. I know this was a design choice (to allow for some hiss) but I find it a pretty significant flaw. At this price, I shouldn’t have this much trouble to where I have to buy products to remedy these issues. The first time Ive been disappointed by PS Audio.
I will speak with the team as well to see if maybe there is an issue with the Preamp itself. I have one of the early models with the golden BHK signature on top.
I think the 6v tubes are generally noisier. However, I was astonished today when, on a whim, I tried some old RAM 6922s (Sovteks?) I had in my stash from my Music Reference amp days.
They were “very” low-noise, maybe even quieter than the new Psvane 12au7s the preamp shipped with.
I’ve been running 4mv bias with my 6 and 7v tubes as well. I think that helps with noise.
I also figured out it’s worth the extra cash to pay the premium for low-noise, matched and balanced tubes.
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The lower bias setting does make the hiss level lower on the 6 volt tubes at the expense of sonics.
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