Quote:
Originally Posted by BearCityUSA
Maybe my problem is I listen to much. It takes about a month to get 150 hrs on my office system. The Chinese tubes I have had have barely lasted a year, though I am running a black glass CV181 which has been in for a while. Still good I think but I have been getting some intermittent noise of late which I have been unable to pinpoint.
I do agree that for new stock the cv181s are the best sounding 6sn7 I have heard. I have been disappointed with their life span and doubt I will buy more.
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As they have the black glass, are these the Shuguang Treasure CV-181? Or the early series Psvane? Hard to tell where these tubes are manufactured, all of the early models were from the Shuguang factory and many still are. I have read from other owners that their Shuguang CV-181s developed buzzes/hums/noises after a year or so of use. Not everyone but a seemingly higher than expected percentage.
I'm sticking with my vintage Westinghouse and Sylvania 6SN7s for now. They sound great to my ears and seem to have an almost infinite lifespan. I've chatted with people who have over 5,000 hours on them.
The new "Tung-sol" (really a Sovtek) 6SN7 seems to be reliable and quiet. I'm just not in love with how they sound.
Nearly all of my tubes are vintage, Russian, or from the EI Yugoslavian plant which used tooling purchased from Telefunken. I have almost nothing from China.