[Bill Baker]

Greetings AC family. With a new product now in production, I am looking for recommendations on 6X5 rectifier tubes to experiment with. Anyone have any experiences with this tube?

[Imperial]

Ah the 6x5, thats a tube often used by Audionote/Quortrup.
Punchy little buggers! Hehe, I'd say that Bendix 5852 would be the best...by far.
They are about 50$ a pop... Lasts a really long time!
You are trying to get a really huge dynamic wallop out of your powersupply I gather?
Yup, thats my suggestion, the Bendix.

Sits in the Voyager Probe (the spacecraft, was developed for this kind of abuse...) And in the Apollo moon program rockets/vehicles (I'm told.)
Does not get any better than this one!

The effect of this tube as a rectifier will give the sound a very spacious and airy quality.
No noise, and DA-BOMB in dynamics...
Clear as a bell!

Imperial

[tanchiro58]

Hi,

You should add a NOS Brimar 6X5 rectifier tube on your list. Bendix 5852 is a good one too but to my taste is too aggressive. Tungsol 6X5 is also an excellent one and easier to find than a Brimar one.

[Bill Baker]

Thanks Imperial,
 That is one of the tubes I have already had my eye on. Others have also stated the same. This seems to be the favorite option so far based on others I have asked.

 The Brimar has also popped up in conversation and I have checked into this one as well. Yes, it is easier to come by than the Bendix.

[tanchiro58]

Taking the edge of the aggressiveness...If more is needed, try also Allen-Bradely types...
even more warm than the Riken type.[/quote

Imperial,

Yes, I did have a custombuilt tube DAC and tube preamp using 6X5 tubes as rectification and 6J5s as output tubes. I tried the Bendix 5852 but I did not like its sound. The DAC and preamp were built with all Allen Bradley resistors. I prefer Brimar which suits more to my taste. Brimar has more mellow and liquid not too stiff and aggressive like Bendix. It maybe depends on the individual circuit design and the rest of the system.

[Imperial]

The Brimar can only handle a 30'sh microfarrad Cap.
The Bendix can swing up to 40'sh and thereabout.. (Or likes to have...)
That is a difference!
I don't know if this is a thing to remember but I'm just pointing it out.

And on to the Allen-Bradley resistors...
They don't like heat! They actually can't take a lot of it. And the Bendix is a brute!
What you heard might have been heated (stressed) resistors... Maybe?
They also sometimes aren't quite within spec... can be more or less the rated value...
I don't know, does that make sense?

Imperial

[Bill Baker]

I prefer Brimar which suits more to my taste. Brimar has more mellow and liquid not too stiff and aggressive like Bendix. It maybe depends on the individual circuit design and the rest of the system.

 Different taste is what audio is all about. I am glad there are obvious differences between these two tubes. The circuit I am using this tube in is also tube regulated and uses 12AU7 linestage tubes (yes, it is a preamp).
 The circuit will use a combination of Dale 1% metal film resistors, Teflon capacitors in the linstage and OIMP caps in the power supply.

 It will all boil down to personal preferences.

 I still have some time as I want my showroom piece to have a least 300-400 hours on it before starting the "tube rolling" journey.

 This preamp will be fed by a Resolution Audio OPUS 21 player and paired with a pair of my Bella EXtreme 100 mono blocs (running in triode ) and EXtreme Adagio speakers.

[Bill Baker]

And on to the Allen-Bradley resistors...
They don't like heat! They actually can't take a lot of it. And the Bendix is a brute!
What you heard might have been heated (stressed) resistors... Maybe?
They also sometimes aren't quite within spec... can be more or less the rated value...
I don't know, does that make sense?

 I know some people like to use Carbon Film or even Tants in the power supply but I am not a big fan of this. In regard to the rest of the circuitry, I do like Carbon resistors such as Riken Ohms but with them being discontinued, I have to concentrate on availability as well. Not everyone likes the Dale Metal Film resitors but I have been using them for years in ALL my products along with the Mills non-inductive. It simply depends on what part they play in the circuit. The only resistors that I am unsure of still are the PRP metal films. I have used them several times now perrequest but there is something about them I just can't put my fingure on.

 Cheap metal film resistors I stay away from. Even for prototyping.

[Bill O'Connell]

I believe the best sounding ones are the ST shaped bottles, GEC made some nice ones, Raytheons seem to be accurate and the Tungsols are the cats meow..

[tanchiro58]

best sounding ones are the ST shaped bottles

Yep, the Brimar is the one which has coke bottle shape. It sounds sweet!!!

[bambadoo]

I have tried nos Sylvania 6x5, nos rca 6x5 and nos tung-sol 6x5 -

The TungSols are best of these.