[PDR]

OK, I am a complete newb at the whole tube rolling deal. All I know is that with my 1st tube amp I am very impressed with the sound.
I am trying to educate myself about tube types and I am starting to understand the differences in the 12Ax7 and what they do.
What I am having problems in is finding info on the differences between 3 of the "6" tubes.
I have a dual monoblock and have printed on the amp itself these options....6N8P...6SN7..6H8C.
The tubes that came with the amp are 6N8P.
Can someone please explain, or direct me to a place, that can tell me what I can expect from one to each other, sonically.

Each block has 2x KT88, 2x 6N8P and 1x 12Ax7......if it makes a difference my CDP (Raysonic 128) uses 4x 6922

Thanks in advance.

PDR

[JimJ]

Some info I found about 6N8Ps...

http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10318

Personally, I'd swap them out for NOS 6SN7s, but they can get pricey...I'd look around places like thetubestore.com or Tube Depot, or Jim McShane's tubes...http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/tubes.htm

[BillB]

I have heard good things about those Russian 6sn7s...might wanna try used old stock ones (find a lot on ebay) before committing big money into NOS.

The AX7 is a good place to start, then the 6sn7s, and finally the kt88s.

The reason I say that is while power tubes can make a big difference, the cost of a matched quad is pretty high and you can usually get pretty good results with the pre and driver tubes.

Check out what the CDP has in it...if you want to stay cheap, try some EH 6922, if you want to spend a bit the Amperex A-frames are affordable and sound great.

The CD is probably just a buffer and I to V so you might not get much out of changing those...if you can figure out which is which I would do the buffer.

[gjclaxton@gmail.com]

Hi.  Here are a couple of links that discuss the differences (subjective) for different NOS 6sn7 options http://www.audiotubes.com/6sn7.htm; http://www.tubeseller.com/ratings.html. 

the 6H8C i believe is an identical tube to the 6sn7.  i just bought a couple over at the trading post. 

good luck

[Les Lammers]

What amp are you using? What power tubes are in it now? Which are the driver tubes? There will be one combination of tubes that 'will do it' for you. You can go nuts...and broke rolling tubes.  Been there done that.  aa  The JJ 6922 are held in high regard BUT they may not be the best in your Raysonic. Have a look at this post:

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tubes/messages/208117.html

I am not sure if there are any really good sounding new production 6SN7's.