Quote:
Originally Posted by stereoquest
The GAT 2 seems to be an evolutionary product with the additional major benefit of NOS tubes as stock which would address a possible issue with current production tubes used in the GAT 1. Yes the PC88 operates on a higher heater voltage but this tube is not as sensitive to heater voltage as the 6922.....in the old days anything within 10% is not abnormal. Why they increased coupling capacitor total value is surprising though.
Anyone who has heard the difference between good NOS and EH knows what to expect as a minimum in the GAT2. The ET5 is nothing like a GAT inside , it would take more than a series revision for it to challenge the original GAT or ACT 2.2 for that matter.
Lets hope in the near futute the price of GAT 1's come down so mere mortals can look to acquire them  |
very true. I went through literally 5 or 6 pairs of cj EH tubes in short periods of time as they kept getting noisy. I then tried some Philips Holland / Pope PCC88/7DJ8 and Telefunken PCC88/7DJ8.
IMO, the stk EH tubes still sounded better than these highly rated PCC88's - I guess that is why cj had to re-design the GAT to get the best out of the PC88 as well as some evolutionary upgrades learned over time.
I then bit the bullet and tried the Telefunken E88CC / 6922. Boom - an increase in performance in every parameter. They have also lasted 2 years without any issues - the last 6 months they have literally been on 24/7 as running with my SS amp.
That is the conundrum - My GAT with tele E88CC sounds magnificent. Why spend another AU 7K or so to upgrade? AU importer will never bring a new GAT2 into the country, so impossible to know how much better the GAT2 is over GAT1 with Tele 6922's.
first world problems
