Author: admin

6CA7-Z Treasure tubes – recommended

Posted by forum member:

I would recommend the Shuguang Treasure 6CA7-Zs, as tested and screened by Grant Fidelity, as a substitute for the EL34s. The additional cost is well worth the better Grade A. I noticed that the heat from the Treasure 6CA7-Zs is substantially and significantly less than the heat that emanated from either the Siemens or the JJ KT77s or the EH EL34s. That thermal difference could well mean a longer life-span for the Treasures.

original post here: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=4503443

What if a tube is ‘out of stock’?

When placing order on the website, you may be notified that a product is ‘out of stock’ at time of order or after the order is placed (we take many phone orders so the website stock level may not have been updated in real time).

When the product listing has ‘out-of-stock’ notice and if we have plan to re-stock it, we will be glad to accept pre-order with payment by credit card or Paypal. Your pre-order will have priority over others to be fulfilled once new stock arrives. Many our ‘Best of Best’ top tubes have waiting list once it becomes out of stock – these tubes are of limited quantity. First come first serves so please get your pre-order in line as soon as you can.

In each factory run of tube production, tubes meeting Grant Fidelity test method Top 10% Best Grade requirements are very limited. We will never ship lower quality grade tubes in order to rush to fulfill an order.

If a tube is out of stock and your order has been placed, we will email you in 24-48 hours letting you know of future stock availability. You have the option either to take an immediate full refund or your order will be in line among other pre-orders for guaranteed fulfillment from new arrival stock.

Thank you.

It’s emotional..

by email from customer Kevin K.

‘Hi Rachel,

Thank You! The tubes arrived today and I can best describe them as “emotional.”  I have had the CD 327a powered on for two days now and listened to Rickee Lee Jones and The Durutti Column through the Treasure Series this afternoon and they sound very good already. Perhaps the selection of tunes has to do with the “emotional” tag; I dunno…’

What’s the sound when I turn on the tubes?

Some tubes at start up will have a metal like sound from inside the tube. This is the plate materials being heated up and expand – this sound will disappear once the tube is turned on for a few minutes.

Such a sound will happen at each time you turn on the tube – i.e. at each heat up process. This is perfectly normal and it doesn’t indicate bad tube quality or whatsoever. It’s a natural process of metal expanding under extreme heat.

Some tubes have this sound, others don’t because each type / make of tube might be using different plate materials.

Treasure KT88-Z: ‘smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other’

Posted by happy customer John on AudiogoN: original post here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1248723961

 Shuguang Treasure tubes….

 

I’m not sure if this is in the right place but this is about the tubes in my amp so here goes….Has anyone else given these Shuguan Treasure tubes a try?

I recently bought a used tube amp(VAC Phi 110) and the tubes that came with it were shot so I started poking around for some new tubes. I was looking for some Shuguang tubes, which are what I believe VAC supplies as standard/stock, and ran across Shuguangs limited production Treasure tubes. I poked around and did some reading, found a review or two and decided to give the only distributer for N. America(Grant Fidelity) a call. I spoke to a very kind and helpful lady who was patient with me(quite the task I might add!), was very nice and helpful and was darn knowledgeable on the tubes. Before I knew it my wallet had leapt out of my back pocket and I had splurged and ordered a matched quad of the Treasure Tubes, KT-88s. Within a couple of hours I had a tracking number and about a week later a box labeled “FRAGILE: GLASS!” was waiting for me when I got home from work.(A quick side note; during the short wait for the Treasure tubes to arrive I was using a borrowed quad of stock VAC KT-88 tubes and they were wonderful, great sounding tubes that I could live with forever….or that is until I found the Treasure tubes anyway.)

When the Treasure tubes showed up I ripped into the box and was shocked to see that each pair comes in a really nice presentation box with each tube very well protected in a foam insert, very classy. I removed the tubes, admired their beauty(they really are sweet looking tubes!) and popped them in the VAC and let them warm up for about 15-20 minutes. I then set bias on them and hit the play button expecting the usual tube break in time-wrong!…right out of the box these tubes sound fantastic! Seriously, I am shocked how at just good they sound fresh out of the box. Smooth clean highs, strong deep bass and all the other audiophile words we so endear. If they’re this good right out of the box I can’t wait until I get 100 hours or so on them. I’m no reviewer but I can say that these tubes offered a noticable improvement in my system and are worth every penny of their asking price, no doubt about it! So far they are chugging along and sounding beautiful and hold a rock solid bias, ZERO fluctuation.

Please understand that I have no affiliation with Grant Fidelity but when I run across a company that treats their customers so well and offers a product that performs at this level I feel I should share my experience with others, I’m one VERY hapy audionut!

Yes I actually do have a question and here it is; They(Grant Fidelity/Shuguang) also offer a 6SN7 substitute called the “CV-181”, this is supposed to be a direct replacement for standard 6SN7’s and I’m very interested in those as well. Has anyone else had the opportunity to give these tubes a try? Thanks for your replies.

Sincerely,
John
Johngp  (Answers)

07-27-09