AudioAficionado.org - Dennis Had Inspire Amps

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Aercool (Post 599538)

Just placed an order for a pair of the 6V6GT's from Upscale......

Popes?

When Dennis sent me the tube rolling specs sheet for the 6V6 amp he included this shot. Says the Popes are smooth as a babies......

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...sfbcdf38d.jpeg

Nice! I'm reading general opinion that Popes are the best. Some RCAs after that. Popes are what I ordered as well. I'll need my new speakers before running them though. I can just get by running my AR2ax' at 10 watts. I won't even try less power. They are 8ohm, but only about 87db. The Omegas will be 93db.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pstrisik (Post 599562)

Popes?

Yes, I got the Pope 6V6GT from Upscale.

So what's with the gray coloring on the tubes? Part of the appeal is seeing those filaments lit, and that cool blue glow coming off the power tubes. I've avoided them on principle alone! ;^)

I'm thinking with the Omens at 97 dB/W I'll be fine at 5 wpc. They're quite loud at the 12:00 volume knob position with the KT-150's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aercool (Post 599575)

I would think 5 watts would be fine with 97db. Louis, who makes the Omegas, says as little as 2 watts will power his speakers (93db).

Here is some info from the thetubestore.com/Resources/Matching-and-other-tube-info/Blue-Glow#getters on the gray coloring. I learned something finding it.

Quote:

Getters

The getter or getter flash is the silver/gray coating seen on the glass of a tube. Most tubes have the getter flash at the top of the bottle, but some have it on the side or even bottom of the bottle. There are even tubes that have multiple getters on the top and sides. Regardless, the getter flash is what indicates there is a good vacuum in the tube and that no air has leaked inside. The shade of gray can vary from chrome-like to black. Any shade of gray is good. Inexperienced or misinformed folks may think a black color is a burn mark. It is not a burn at all but rather a product of how fast the flashing was done. Here in Photo 3 we show various colors of healthy getters.

An article by Electronics Magazine published an in-depth article about tube getters in October 1950. It’s very long but below is an excerpt about the getters you will see in most common audio tubes. We also have the entire article available for download.

“Flash getters are outgassed at temperatures between 600 and 700 C, usually by r-f heating from the outside of the tube, and flashed at temperatures between 900 and 1,300 C. The barium vapor condenses on the cold surface opposite the getter material, usually on the envelope of the tube. The appearance of the condensed getter deposit depends upon the vapor pressure in the tube at the time of flashing. If the getter is vaporized very slowly, the first barium atoms evaporated will absorb the gas present so that the remaining getter is deposited in a very high vacuum, exhibiting a shining mirror. If flashing is done very rapidly, however, the getter deposits in a rather high vapor pressure and the getter mirror will be discolored due to dispersion of the barium. If vaporization is carried out in the inert atmosphere of a rare gas the condensed deposit will be black, resulting in a dispersal getter. This condition does not mean that the getter is contaminated, but merely that the deposit is finely divided and therefore absorbs light. Such deposits exhibit higher efficiency than the bright deposits.”

The only time the getter color will indicate a problem is when it turns white. A tube with a white getter will not function and cannot be used. This happens when air leaks into the tube. See Photo 4 for an example of this. The tube on the left has lost it's vacuum and no longer functions. The tube on the right is a normal functioning tube.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pstrisik (Post 599587)

I would think 5 watts would be fine with 97db. Louis, who makes the Omegas, says as little as 2 watts will power his speakers (93db). Here is some info from the tubestore.com on the gray coloring. I learned something finding it.

Well, there's the silver getter and then there's that gray color some tubes have covering the walls uniformly. I suspect they're for different purposes.

But as my g/f would readily offer: "I've been wrong before".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aercool (Post 599591)

Maybe. I guess Kevin at Upscale could probably answer the question. Maybe there was the desire to block some of the glow for some applications? :scratch2:

I like the saying: I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. A mind twister!

I've never heard the Pope 6V6GT's, but I'm running a pair of Pope 12AX7's that I bought from Kevin at Upscale Audio in my Cary SLP-98P preamp's phono section, and they are the best that I've heard. Great tone, dimensionality, air and space.

And no one has made a Catholic joke yet!? (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

Like.......

Is the Pope Catholic?

No, but it makes the music come from Angels.

Baa Boom!

fyi, an EL84 based Inspire just appeared on A'gon.