pauln Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 ?<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>Arcturus 2A3 Single PlateElectro Harmonix Gold Grid 2A3GE Westinghouse 2A3Golden Dragon 2A3 Dual PlateJJ/Tesla 2A3-40 JJKen Rad 2A3 H5R Black TopKR Enterprise 2A3 tubesRaytheon 2A3 Black Plate RCA 2A3 Dual PlateRCA 2A3 Gray Plate RCA 2A3 VT-95 CRCRCA Radiotron 2A3 Black PlatesRCA/Cunningham 2A3 Single Plate Sovtek 2A3 Single PlateSylvania 2A3 Single Plate Tung-Sol 2A3 Single Plate Tung-Sol 2A3 Black Plate U.S.N. -CRC - RCA 2A3Other 2A3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazman Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I use Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondogs. Klipsch out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 On my Wright monos, the best midrange ever came with AVVT Meshplates from Jac's music. They are also near works of art sitting on the amp. Overall my favorite was RCA 2A3 VT-95 CRC Best bang for the buck: Sovtek 2A3. It is only with the most careful listening, and alot like work, can one (at least my ears) distinguish between the Sovtek and RCA tubes. The Sovteks are very good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenc319 Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Hi, Sophia Electric 2.5 volt 300b mesh plates are a wonderful tube. Best mids I've heard so far with my Wright Mono 3.5s. The RCA dual plates are my other favorites. Larry Citro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 the sovtek beat the EH gold grid on my amp....good too becasue it is much cheaper LOL... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Different 2A3s in different amps with different tube complements yield different results. IMO, the Arcturus monoplates in both Wright 3.5 and Moondogs have the most palpable midrange presence of any 2A3 tried, albeit it's probably also the most bass shy. Overall however, the RCA Cunningham monoplates seem to have the least grain in presentation and best tonality balance from top to bottom of the bunch. That 70-year old tubes can still come out on top is remarkable I think. Here's a qualifier though. . the results with adding in a great 6SN7 or equivalent is not subtle, e.g. for *nicer* results try the CBS Hytron or Sylvania brown base 5692 in the Moondogs, or the Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7W in the Wrights. The Sovteks perform very well on their own. Swapping out the $$ 2A3 for one with the right 6SN7 complement may leave you pondering why you need to spend the extra bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 my experience has been very good with Sovtech ..this in in my Musical Instrument amps ...BUt .... It Still Is Critical Listening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 But which tubes (manufacturer)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I found that my 6SN7 made more difference in my amps then the 2A3...I settled on 1940's Tungsol round plates...tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 "Different 2A3s in different amps with different tube complements yield different results." Yup. I have a homebrew amp. 6EA7 driver w/Allied IT. A television PS transformer with two 6AU4 half-wave damper diodes, 36 uF oil for the input cap, a 4 henrie Raytheon choke, and a 100 uF Sprague Atom with another 36 uF oil bypassed across the electrolytic for the output cap. Additional 100 uF de-coupling at the plates of 6EA7. Coupling caps are the Russian silver military 1000 volt types, 0.1 uF. Cathode/filament bypass caps are 30 uF 150 VAC oils. Air-gapped 10 watt Scholl output transformers with a 3800 ohm primary with 8 and 16 ohm taps. I used TJ psuedo 2.5 volt 300B's for awhile, they have quite a robust full sound. I had them biased at where a 2A3 is biased and then ran them at a 300B bias. I liked the TJ tube, too bad I question the longetivity of the cathode/filamentary coating. I re-biased back to 2A3 and used Sylvania 5930/2A3W for some time until one had issues. More nuetral sounding than the TJ, with good bass. I liked that tube too. The one I seemed to like the most in my amp, was a Ken-Rad 2A3 CRC (VT-95?). It had smoked glass except at the top of the tube. This tube did things with my amp that the others didn't, it's hard to explain. The euphonic thing I suppose...... One of these days I'm gonna scrounge up a pair of those Ken-Rads........ I'm using Sovtek 2A3's currently, biased right at 15 watts. They do take quite some time to burn-in. They were kinda ratty sounding at first, and I was wondering when and if they were ever going to settle-in. But they eventually did, and seem to work real well in my amp. Nice and quiet, good strong tight bass, and nice midrange and top end. Not quite as refined on the mids and highs as the older NOS 2A3's, but for the money they are a excellent tube. IMO. That's it for 2A3's I've heard in my amp. I wish I could afford to roll more 2A3's such as NOS or new one like AVVT. But that can get spendy..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 You didn't list the best I've heard (in my monos)...AVVT Meshplate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorcoll Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 FULLMUSIC 2A3 MESHPLATE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebse2a3 Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Which 2A3 do I like the best would be hard to answer since I believe the Amps Design could easily change my preferences as well as the system its used in. For example the AES SE-1 with the 6SL7 input/driver tube which has a low sensitivity really needs a good pre-amp to get the best sound(the bass and drive are really improved) and then it really comes alive and in this case it works very good in a Khorn system because the gain and noise floor are a great match for the Khorn where sometimes trying to use a pre-amp with a high sensitivity amp causes noise issues in a Khorn system. I have Sovtek in my Cary Cad 2A3i push/pull integrated Amp and I have been very pleased. The bass and vocals are very good. I also have a modified Audio Electronic Supply AES SE-1 single ended amp with RCA dual plates which I like especially for vocals but when I get a chance I need to try the Sovtek 2A3 in it. My opinion is the Sovtek is hard to beat for the price/performance. I hope to try some mesh plates in the future. mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazman Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I use Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondogs. Klipsch out. BTW, my vote was for the RCA 2A3 VT-95 CRC, second choice is the RCA Radiotron 2A3 Black Plates. I would love to audition a pair of AVVT 2A3's if anyone has a pair. One day I will own a pair of the beautiful RCA/Cunningham single plate 2A3's of my very own. Other 2A3's I've had in the Moondogs include the Sovtek 2A3 Single Plate; JJ/Tesla 2A3-40 JJ; KR Enterprise 2A3; Rogers 2A3 Black Plates; Ad.Auriema, Inc. 2A3 Blackplate(supplied by RCA) which is identical to the RCA Radiotron Black Plates. Other tubes used in your SET amp can also greatly influence the sound you hear. Yes, the driver tube is important, but the choice of rectifier will also influence what you hear. The whole is equal to the sum of the parts. Klipsch out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardhead Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 The best 2A3 I ever heard was a TJ Meshplate in a friend's system. He let me audition several other 2A3's. The tube whose name I remember other than the TJ was the Sovtek. It did sound good, but the TJ's bested it by a significant margin--MUCH smoother and gobs of detail, especially low level detail. The TJ's were more expensive, though, also by a significant margin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted January 5, 2006 Author Share Posted January 5, 2006 Sorry I forgot the mesh plates! Once you do a poll you can't edit... I've got my original Sovteks in the Wright 3.5 and they kick *** all over the EH Gold. The EH seem to have deeper bass extension and go higher in the treble, but they just don't get the overall sound quite right to me. I guess they are OK for rock and such, but for critical classical I gots to have the Sovtek - not sure why but they just have more of what I like in music, maybe the harmonis are more on target, maybe more dymanic - don't really know, but they just sound more right in my system. And what a great price point! Now if I could find a better tube I'd get it in a minute - that's the purpose of this thread - I want to hear from others what they have found to work - especially in the Wight 3.5. It seems like maybe the most productive bang for buck next step is to get some better 6SN7 drivers - I have Sovtek 6SN7 GT in them now... what have folks found that does the trick in the Wrights? Thanks for all the input so far... Pauln Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious_George Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Since this thread has not had any input in awhile, does anybody have more opinions to share? I think the Sovtek 2A3 monoplate is by far the best value and sounds pretty good. I've heard various Chinese variants too, but I like the Sovtek the best. The Sovtek is almost a 300B on its own. It can handle 450V on the plate and power dissipation is 30 Watts. It is no slouch. Physically, the Sovtek 2A3 plate is almost the same size as a 300B. You can get a solid 7.5 Watts out of it and it will smile all the while. This is 300B territory for half the price or more in most cases. I still love 300B's, but if you are on a budget or simply do not want to spend too much on tubes, but invest money in other areas (like transformers), the Sovteks are the way to go. I won't go into much detail about the sound quality of different tubes, because I honestly do not hear too much difference between a lot of components if the equipment is designed well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 I was lucky years ago to buy Jeff Lessard's 2A3 monoblock amps that he built for himself. Cobalt transformers. AVVT tubes before they were gone. I still have a pr of AVVTs that were the last from Jacs to use for backups. I'm happy with this combo. I've tried six other 2A3s and none are as satisfying as the AVVTs to me. SSH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 I've only heard the sovteks and EH gold grid. I liked the EHs better, but they both were musical. Plenty of bass, but a lot of that is the output transformers, and the mondogs have Magnequest iron in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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