Les Lammers

Hi Jeff, Silver plated copper has never sounded right to my ears. I'm running 12 AWG on the woofers and 16AWG on the tweeters of Heresy III's. Amp is a Dennis Had Inspire. 5 watts with 6L6G's. The wire and IC's are cheap enough to experiment with. Once the Belden 8402 settled in I no longer thought about IC's. YMMV. Les

I stumbled on this a few years ago and have been using this wire since then. No plans to change either. The WE wire discussed was actually made by a company in Rhode Island and is simply tinned copper in a cotton sleeve. It is unobtanium now but Deulund and the Swedish Supra 1.6 wire is similar. You can get the Belden 8402 IC's on the auction site for about $65. This stuff simply works great. The SS guys can only change wire to tweak the sound. We roll tubes and coupling capacitors. Try this and you too may be amazed and forget about high priced wire. I'm driving H3's with it and have them bi-wired. http://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/adventures-in-real-sound-with-mr-shirokazu-yazaki-2/ You can scroll down to the wire.

IMHO, the US made NOS 5U4G rectifiers are hard to beat. I have and like the Treasure KT66z's in my amp.

I forgot to say that I do have Full Music 274A perforated plate rectifiers, a 4 pin version 274, and like them a lot. They are no longer produced so are they NOS new production? Also, the input or driver tube has a LOT of influence on the sound and experimenting there may have more sonic benefits than trying a different power tube. It's all about synergy.

Here is a thread with 5000+ posts regarding the Inspire amps Dennis Had is building in NC and selling on the auction site. https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=24170 His 'shop' is 225 miles from you. (I Googled it.) I think a road trip there would be a 'sound investment'. There are posters tin the thread in NC and you might be able to get an audition closer to home from one of them. Used ones come up for sale once in a while too. You have some nice speakers that need to be introduced to tubes. It may be 😍. Enjoy the journey.

The Psvane small signal tubes take a good while to settle in. Mullard long plate 12AU7 and 12AX7's are fine tubes but 'good' ones getting hard to find. Mullard 5AR4's are hard to beat. I've not tried any new production 5AR4's.

I believe you can use either a 6SN7 or 6SL7. They are not normally interchangable but are in some of his amps. Check with Dennis. My Inspire amp has a different "infinite impedance regulator power supply circuit" that sounds like I don't need to swap out rectifier tubes. Correct.

I used their 300B's and preferred them to the 1990's WE 300B in Welborne Laurels.

I bought mine on ebay. However, it appears that the Shuguang/Treasure etc. number of tube being offered there is shrinking. Perhaps Shuguang/Psvane are taking better control their inventory and this should prevent tubes that did not make the grade from being sold. There have been issues reported here and on other forums.

Yup, it depends on the circuit. I should have said that in my Inspire amp/rig the CV-181's were the best to my ears...until I got a Sophia blue 6SN7. However, the CBS may rule in yours. There are no absolutes in this hobby.

Where did you purchase them? Not all tube seller do adequate testing.

I've had my Inspire SEP triode strapped for almost 5 years. If you like 6L6's try a pair of NOS 6L6GA's with a 5Y3 rectifier. The combo is about 5 watts in triode. I did get a Sophia blue glass 6SN7 and this tube, in my rig, is superior to any of the NOS I have and I have a lot of them. I'm not sure about the merits of the blue glass though. Luxman has a new amp that is voiced with JJ Tubes. http://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=28 I would guess that they are specially selected.

I agree. The only NOS power tubes I use are 6L6's, mostly 6L6GA's. The Chinese CV-181 better almost all NOS 6SN7's. There was a problem with tubes that should have been culled leaving the factory and ending up on the auction site.

Electrically they are interchangable. You could also use a 274B.

I resemble that remark. 😀 It's a good book and free is a great price.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_ssn=h_salience&_sop=12&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=psvane&_pgn=2&_skc=50&rt=nc Wow, some of the prices have gone stupid. Was the seller you bought from "Shuguangs" ? I had a not so good experience with them. I have noticed that the number of Treasure and Psvane tubes for sale on the auction site has decreased. Hopefully, they will up QC and restrict having sub par tubes smuggled out of the factory. Yup, this has been documented. From the description of your tubes it appears that is what you received. I have been using the CV181/6SN7's for a number of years and they are better, IMHO, than any NOS 6SN7's I have. BTW, Shuguang is the world's biggest tube manufacturer. Please keep us apprised of the outcome of your transaction.

Ron had some great amps. His daughter got him in financial hot water and I understand it ruined him.

Agreed. The H3's take a long time to settle in so be patient.

Russian K40 PIO caps, the silver ones, the blue green cap is Russian too. Looks like a parallel single ended design. The big question is the quality of the transformers. Quality parts are not cheap. There are some very good Chinese amps...and a lot of duds.

Upscale has these: https://www.upscaleaudio.com/collections/rectifier-tubes/products/mullard-gz33-cv5745 I ran them in Welborne Laurels and will beef up the bottom end. They would be fine in your Moondogs. Here is a link to the assembly manual.https://www.scribd.com/document/309790909/Welborne-Labs-Moondog-2a3-amplifier-build-instructions I believe you can also use GZ34 and 5U4G rectifiers.

h_salience is a reputable epay seller.

Maybe, but it depends on the transformers etc. Primaluna is manufactured in China but the specs are from a Dutch company. Quality parts and design.

There is a Dennis Had 2A3 Inspire for sale asking $1375. No, I'm not the seller. I'd pass on the amp you posted. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9bb2i-inspire-by-dennis-had-2a3-fire-bottle-tube?refsource=hifishark

Upscale is a great place for tubes. You get what you pay for. I would run the amp for a couple of hundred hours and then roll tubes. The 6h8c is a 6SN7 equivalent and the 5z3p a 5U4G.