[hifiman5]

I am reclining in my listening room thoroughly enjoying The Rite of Spring due in no small measure to the Psvane 12AU7 Reference Vacuum tubes. I just recently purchased these new production tubes manufactured under tight tolerances in the Shuguang tube facility in China. The Psvanes replaced gold pin EH 12AU7s. The EHs were good sounding tubes in my heavily modified cj tube line stage. The Psvane's bring a whole new "sophistication" to all aspects of sound. Most notable is a complete lack of "glassiness" in the upper midrange and treble, a smoothness to the musical texture without any loss in detail. The soundstage is open and natural. Bass is powerful and tight. These tubes are very quiet, a characteristic missing in my trials with NOS Mullards. Yes, they were warm and "musical" but the several pairs I used were always noisy...losing their vacuum?

I purchased the matched pair with gold pins for $83 including shipping from Grant Fidelity located in Canada.

[Bill O'Connell]

I couldn't agree more about the Psvane tubes.
 I dropped 3 of the 12au7's into our M88 integrated on Thursday along with a pair of their 12AX7's and was amazed at just what it brought to the musical table.
 Earlier in the day I threw in some Tesla 802S tubes in the morning and had thrown a quad of Siemens Silverplates into our new Avant preamp. This setup in the preamp is clean ,crisp presentation, with the 802S tubes in the M88 it was too much of a clean presentation in conjunction with the Avant, I took those out and put in some old 1950's vintage blackplate RCA 12au7's with a pair of Sylvania Gold Brand 5751's which worked very nicely as the combination just played together well, then the Psvane tubes arrived a little later in the day. Had to drop them in and I couldn't pull myself away from the sweet spot for 10 hours.   Very nice indeed.

 They look very similar to the stock Chinese 12au7's we provide in our components so I really wasn't expecting that much of a difference.
 They totally grab your attention with the pure musical bliss. These are very good tubes to say the least.Lots of body while still grabbing a firm punchy bottom end, midrange is wonderful with extended highs.


 Later,
 Bill

[Pez]

Just wanted to chime in. The Pavanes are absolutely the real deal. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Pavanes and the Black Treasures substantially shift the current NOS vs new issue tube debate. They are clearly better than my NOS mullards, Amperex and everything else I've tried.

Glad to hear someone else is enjoying these friggin great tubes.

[rpf]

I'm just breaking in a Pavane 12AU7 in my Rogue Cronus to go with the Black Treasure 6CA7s and so far I'm really liking what I'm hearing also. I'll report back when I have more hours on them.   

[Wind Chaser]

Just wanted to chime in. The Pavanes are absolutely the real deal. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Pavanes and the Black Treasures substantially shift the current NOS vs new issue tube debate. They are clearly better than my NOS mullards, Amperex and everything else I've tried.

Glad to hear someone else is enjoying these friggin great tubes.

Ah, the benefit of experience.  I've read many comments like this and nice not having to waste a pile of money learning the hard way.  So I just take it on faith that the mighty damn fine sound I'm hearing cannot get much better, at least on account of these seven tubes...

[owenmd]

In complete concurrence.... I've just purchased two pairs of the excellent Pavane EL84's from Grant and love them....!

I was looking for some replacements for my aging NOS Telefunken's and as many know, the price of these is getting ridiculous...! I was amazed that the Pavanes could compete with these great NOS tubes.... but they did, and even beat them in many areas!  Not quite as warm, but I can live with that for the benefits attained.   

[Vulcan00]

Over the past year I have spent a lot time listening an evaluating the 12Au7 tube in my systems. 

I still have at least 10-12 different brands of  NOS and several new tubes.I ordered a pair of Pavanes this weekend so I am looking forward to see how they match up.

[eclein]

Wind Chaser- What amp is that? I have not seen that one on the website or I missed it....diggin the tube deck, aluminum, base plate thing...

 Edit---I found it, I just never looked at the closeup.....

[mfsoa]

Bought a pr of used Pavane 12AU7s. Popped one in my EE DAC to see if I liked it (did like it enough, on a quick listen, to order one more just for the DAC) before putting the pr into my VAC preamp.
Not sure if I'm liking the result - Midrange is fabulous and very natural, but the attack is kinda vague and the bass, while there, isn't as tight as I might like. The highs seem a bit too tame too. (This compared to my RFT 12AU7s). A nice, pleasant tube with a very nice musical, detailed midrange but I think I heard mention of midrange bloat from someone - that's a good way to put it.

Along w/ the single 12AU7 for the EE DAC, I also ordered a pr of 12AX7s for the VAC preamp - With 1 pr of Pavane 12AU7s and one pr of Pavane 12AX7s I'll have a completely Pavan-ed preamp. Hope I'll like it. I know I can always get the RFT sound back if I want, although it is not as smooth as the Pavane, the RFTs have great bass but are a bit more fatiguing to listen to.

Ah, the choices. I'll soon have 3 (maybe 4) op-amps to try in the I/V stage of the DAC, and 3 op-amps for the SS stage. Combine that w/ a few diff tubes for the DAC and for each stage of the pre    Good thing I don't have a tube amp anymore 

After hearing the dramatic changes in SQ available from the DAC via op-amp changes, I could easily see why the Pavane could be the right choice for the DAC if faster and leaner op-amps are installed.

-Mike

[hifiman5]

Interesting.  My Psvane 12AU7s have about 200 hours on them now and this is the best my system has ever sounded.  Granted it has evolved over the years, but the difference with the Psvane tubes is amazing.  Everything is open and detailed.  The "texture" of the music is so smooth.  The only tubes to have, in my experience, that come close were some East German RFTs I used about 15 years ago.  I've done the NOS Mullards but they never had the quietness of these new production tubes or the slam and depth in the bass.  If things stay this good I'm buying a second pair to have in reserve before Grant Fidelity raises the price.  One last quality of their sound just hit me as I am listening to high power orchestral pieces...the ebb and flow of the musical line!

[Wind Chaser]

I think any given tube will perform differently in different contexts - in other words - synergy.

[jameshuls]

Good call Wind Chaser. Tubes are similar to cables - After substituting the crap with something decent it seems to be all about synergy & seasoning: The difference between NOS 6SN7s and 12AX7s tube types in my PP 2A3 amp is far less than the positive change observed when changing from the stock Sino tubes (keep in mind this comment only refers to the dual triodes) to NOSs. Different tubes allow you to ameliorate, to a degree, the inherent frequency response anomalies of your source-amp-speaker system (I guess I better add IMHO and in my humble system - IMHS).

[carusoracer]

MFSOA,

I heard similar things that you are experiencing with your tube rolling with the Pavane. Something I'm sure you already know, but these tube do benefit from a some burn in time, not quite like the Treasure Series power tubes They really need all of the advertised burn in period. After that, best 6CA7 I have ever heard!

I found the Pavanes to work really well with the EE Modded DAC and the Cryoed Fuse Wayne Provided. On it's own the Tube really is nice, quiet with a great midrange. The highend is not over the Top noticeable nor is the Bass.
The midrange bloat I did not hear, but the tube I was listening to did have some hours on it. I think that should improve. YMMV.

OTH, has anyone compared the Pavane tube to the Re Issue Gold Lion 12AU7 or 12AX7? I have not heard to much either way?

It is nice to know that at least there are some new production tube choices.

[Ericus Rex]

I never thought I'd ever say 'the best new production tubes are from China.'  But it sure seems that way.     

[TONEPUB]

just got a set, can't wait to hear em!

[DARTH AUDIO]

Well, I hope these tubes rock!! I just ordered 2 pairs of the 12AT7's and a quad of EL34's.

Gary

[rollo]

just got a set, can't wait to hear em!

  Very curious as to your opinion, some say bright, some say great, some say thin, some say forward in presentation. 



charles

[jazzcan]

I'm really enjoying reading about people's experience with these tubes.   I'm curious to see what Vulcan00 will have to say, and I'm also wondering about the sonic comparisons between the psvane and any of the following:
- Gold Lion reissue 12au7
- Sylvania Blackplate 12au7
- Brimar 13D5
- CBS/Hytron Blackplate 5814
- Raytheon Windmill 5814 & Blackplate 12au7
- Amperex Bugleboy 12Au7
- RCA Cleartop & Blackplate 5814
- Tung-sol 12Au7
(I'm not a big fan of mullard sound in my system!)
Rich

[tnewell]

I am concerned about the durability of the Pavane tubes.  I ordered a pair of the 12AX7s for my Aesthetix Calypso PreAmp last fall when they first came out.  I really loved the tone  of these tubes and they were dead quiet!!  The Calypso is very sensitive to noisy tubes.

I quickly ordered 2 more pair.  After about 60 days the first pair started to get noisy.  Tube rush became very audible at the listening position.  So I popped in another pair and after about 30 days these tubes became noisy.

So now I have gone back to my old standby, the Mullard reissues.  These tubes are also very quiet and seem to be much more durable.  The pair I am using now are well over a year old. 

I am curious if anyone else has had these isssues with the Pavanes?

[Wind Chaser]

Bought a demo pair from Grant Fidelity, 2 months later still dead quiet.