Tungsram is more similar in tonality to Telefunken and Mazda - detail and air with tight, not elevated bass. I use them to balance a warm leaning amp and headphones.
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Thanks, the context is helpful. Sounds like it is perfect for your setup, but similar to my experience with the Mazda, it would probably push my setup too far to the bright side for my preference.
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You bet. I agree. While we hear things similarly, I believe you tend to lean toward the warm side of neutral and I lean slightly cool.
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So I’ve been looking at the Vintage Tung Sol 6550. Which ones did you have? It looks like there were three distinct varieties by year of manufacture.
Black plate , gray plate solid or gray plate with three holes.
Incidentally, my first tube purchase showed up today. An Amperex Holland 5AR4 rectifier. This is a major revelation. It opened everything up. Using a GE 5691 red base and the PSVane KT-88s. Wow!
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Unless @earmuffs had more, the 6550’s ones that he sold me were solid gray plate.
The black plates are meant to be the “holy grail”, and the solid gray plates are rumored to be a little better than the three hole tubes, but I do wonder if this is about rarity (and price) vs sound quality.
I also have a set of gray plate with three holes and although I haven’t done any A-B comparisons, I didn’t notice any change in sound after using the solid plate tubes. They’re both excellent in my opinion, and I’m keeping the solid plate tubes in the Nautilus.
Here is a review of the various Tung Sol 6550’s at tubemaze.com.
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Have you gotten the GE’s in yet? Curious as to your thoughts.
I’m running all modern tubes right now, but have the Tung Sol 6550 black plates on the way and I bought one of the Brimar CV4033 footscray tubes Wes recommended last week. Should have everything for the weekend.
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Yes, I got them yesterday. Besides a little microphonics that hopefully will settle down after some nice love taps, the GE’s are pretty good and are very similar to the TS 6550 sound without comparing them back to back.
I’m going to get some TS 6550’s soon too as those are just amazing and you are in for a treat. Great dynamic punch yet a musical smoothness to the vintage tung Sols vs. the new productions.
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Wow, you got the black plates. Nice!
I ordered the CV4034 version of the Footscray Brimar so I’ll have similar tubes in my Nautilus, since I already have a pair of Tung Sol grey plate 6550’s and a pair of Amperex Holland 5AR4’s. It will be interesting to compare and contrast our findings.
Also, I’m trying to go for a “neutral” sound in the Nautilus and “warm side of neutral” in the Pendant, so depending on how the Footscray Brimar compares to my existing Amperex 12au7 in sound signature, it may end up in the Pendant. With the caveat that my definition of “neutral” may lean warmer than some people, so I may actually be shooting for a “warm side of neutral” Nautilus and warm Pendant.
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I think our tastes are pretty close sonically. I cut my audiophile teeth on high end British gear back in the 80s which tended to be on the warm side. I find a more neutral sound more enjoyable now, but like you, others probably think it’s a bit warm.
The black plates weren’t much more than the gray plates, they’re all pricey, so I went for it. The consensus seems to be that the black plates are better tonally, but the gray plates image better. Since I’m listening through cans mainly, tonality won out.
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