[pretzel_logic]

Yes I know everything is system dependent. And I went and retubed most of the tubes in my gear as well, except for my 300B's and a couple other tubes.

I liked the sound of the Sylvania 5Y3 until it died after being in the Cornet a total of about 3 hours yesterday, sounded fabulous listening to the Doobies Toulouse Street. After going back to the 5V4 I had too much weight in the low end though I didn't listen to the same album again, listened to Supertramps Even in the Quietest Moments and Crime of the Century. What I did listen to wasn't muddy but the bass was over emphasized, bloated might be a better word. Of course the room and everything else comes into play as well, and I need to let this break in so maybe I shouldn't worry too much yet.

I am going to look for a Bendix 6106 regardless.

Brian

[pretzel_logic]

Just got off the phone with Brent Jesse Recording where I got my NOS Sylvania 5Y3GT/6106 and he's sending me out a free replacement, nice guy! I only talked to him briefly but he said the Sylvania is the same thing as the Bendix, hard to believe I guess as over at the tubes asylum it sounds like Bendix was the only manufacturer of a 6106. Regardless, it's getting replaced under warranty.

[GRD]

Could be a 6087, which is another old and rugged (Military) slow warm-up (indirectly heated) 5Y3.  Both the 6087 and 6106 sound similar to me in the Cornet.  If it turns out to be a 6087, it's a nice tube to have.  Tuff to get these days.

[pretzel_logic]

The replacement I received, and I like it, is a GE 6087 brown base. It's definitely not a 6106 as far as construction but it sounds very good to my ears. I'm still going to keep my eyes open for a 6106 but I'm not hard pressed to do anything at this point. The Cornet II sounds very good, less than 8 hours so far. At some point I'll pop the original Cornet back in just to do a quick comparison, but as it stands I love the II, much better dynamics overall and even the soundstage has opened up for me. I listen pretty close to the speakers, have a 14X20 room so there isn't much I can do as far as really getting a huge soundstage.

Brian

[GRD]

There are only two indirectly heated 5Y3's that I know of - the 6106 and the 6087.  Both are fine examples and well engineered.  These tubes provides a slow warm-up so the signal tubes are ready to conduct (heaters up to temp) when the B+ comes on-line.  The 6106 takes like 45 seconds. 

If you're set on picking up a 6106, Ebay seems to have the 6106 come up pretty often.  Search Bendix 6106.  There's one relabeled as Penta on there now, claimed to be new for about $38, buy it now.  Don't know anything about the seller.  But, the picture shows an "old-style" 6106 with the ribbed center holding the ceramic heater tube.  A little later in production, the center went from ribbed to smooth.

FWIW, I've got a few - a couple of used pulls and a couple of new (one a Richardson relabel).  I've tested them on a small Dyna-Quick emissions tester (emissions tests are all that's needed for rectifiers), comparing to new 5Y3's.  They all test higher than the new 5Y3's I compared them against.  How that translates into performance, I don't know.  The heavily used one does sound a little different than the new ones. 

Thanks for posting about the Cornet vs Cornet II.  I've got the old Cornet so I'm interested in the differences in how they sound.

Regards,

Grant

[tubesforever]

I listen pretty close to the speakers, have a 14X20 room so there isn't much I can do as far as really getting a huge soundstage.

I am just 7 ft back from mine and they are about 13-15 ft apart.  I use the wonderful Mundorf Silver In Oil caps at the final output coupling and they really deliver on a wide and deep sound scape.

I think you are using these as well.  Just give them 60-100 hours to fully relax.  The teflons are adding a lot of clarity so I cannot live without them but removing these takes away some of the clarity and some of the dynamics and leaves the sonics more sitting row 15 to 25 vs 8-12. 

I love the teflons.  They are not leaving my system any time soon.

Cheers!