Wow, I didn’t realize the Shugangs glowed blue! I might have to grab a pair and see if I like their sound. I love my vintage RCAs, but they barely glow at all.
Don’t want to mislead you! The Shuguang’s dont glow much. The night time photo was with the stock 2a3s. I believe the basic psvanes.
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Dennis Had Inspire Fire-Bottle Kleen-Sweep. Two RCA 6JM6 power tubes, WE 396A input tube, and Sophia Electric 274B rectifier.
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Hey, great pic!! 
Had to look up the amp because I wasn’t familiar with the kleen sweep (auto correct wants to keep changing it to Kleenex lol)…. Great looking amp too!!
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How are you liking those? My 2nd Stellaris is doing alright with Psvane, but last sessions with it hinted that there might be an opportunity for increased refinement and clarity. Or it could just be that comparing it with my 1st Stellaris (Special, RCA JAN 5U4G, Sylvania 6BK7B, Takatsuki TA-2A3) is unfair.
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I too would love to hear what @RestoredSparda has to say! I’ve got the same tubes and like them quite a lot!
I also want to use this as a not so subtle opportunity to pitch folks on those tube dampers by Mapleshade. They were given to me by an audiophile buddy who had them lying around, so I figured “what the hell - I’ll try em out.”
Ho. Ly. Shit.
I cannot stress enough how big an improvement these have been - specifically these dampers. Prior, I was using the Herbie’s tube dampers, which were a noticeable improvement, but those were a “oh this is nice, I’ll keep them in” - typical audiophile tweaking. More focused sound, more controlled bass, but not game changing.
The Mapleshade ones, though? Those were a “what just happened to my amp!?” Bigger step between Herbie’s dampers to Mapleshade dampers than from no dampers to Herbie’s dampers.
I swear my Stellaris performs like a solid state amp now. Bass is so much more tactile, punchy, and controlled; highs are more precise and sparkly; and the focus, holography, and stage depth took a real step forward. Hands down best bang for buck in my entire system.
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Yes I absolutely adore the RCA 2a3s. They have that smooth yet resolving magic that all the new production 2a3s I tried lacked. I’m pretty sure I’m done rolling 2a3s at this point and just play around with rectifiers and input tubes when I’m bored.
When it comes to rectifiers I still prefer sylvania or rca 5U4G over any new production tubes I’ve tried (Sophia Aqua, EML Mesh, etc.). I’ve also played around with a variety of 5U4GB tubes which honestly just sound like baby 5U4G. Less revolving, less micro and macrodynamics but still sound good with the nice 5U4G tone.
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I noticed that you didn’t seem to ground them using the grounding strip that appears to be supplied with those “tube halos.” Can you comment on that? Thanks!
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I would agree w/ this. The only new production tube I’ve preferred over RCA 5U4G is the Elrog 5U4G, but it’s SO much more expensive.
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Easy answer - because the guy who gave them to me lost them… 
I actually plan on ordering a whole new set (which will have the grounding strips) since the dampers are so good, and I’ll give these to friends as demo loaners as needed. I genuinely have no idea on how much the grounding strips matter.
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Wait wait wait wait. I’m now VERY intrigued. And my wallet is about to be mad at you.
Are you headphones only? Like no airborne vibrations from adjacent speakers? And these made that much of a difference?
How are you grounding them?
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Headphones only, and the tube amp sits on isoacoustics isolation pucks which are on a wooden rack that sits on sorbothane pucks - so there was already plenty of isolation going on.
I couldn’t believe it myself. I was highly skeptical I’d be able tell between two different types of dampers, but it took only a few seconds of music for me to say to my self “wtf is this”. I was simultaneously annoyed that something so seemingly stupid could make such a noticeable difference, but also thankful for what it did to my system.
I’m not (yet). The manufacturer recommends grounding, which is why I’m ordering a new set of the same dampers that have the grounding strips, but so far, I haven’t had any issues from not grounding them.
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