I’ve acquired several new tubes to roll through my Inspire “Fire Bottle” SE Stereo Tube Amplifier HO:
Front-end
- Genalex Gold Lion E88CC/6922 (new production from Russia)
- 6N2P-EV (aka 6H2N-EB)
Power
- Tung-Sol 7581A (6L6GC variant - new production from Russia)
Before acquiring these tubes, my favorite combination with my Klipsch RF-7 (and Oppo universal player) has been:
- Substitute Amperex 6DJ8 for the 6CG7
- Substitute Groove Tube Gold Series GT6L6 GE (performance rating 5) for KT88
- Substitute 5AR4 for 5U4
My current preference depends on my mood. The 6DJ8 / GT6L6 GE combination listed above is still one of my favorites when I want a more “laid back” sound. OTOH, for a sound that is more “alive”, then the following combination works well with my RF-7’s:
- 6N2P-EV
- Gold Lion KT88
- 5AR4 (I’ve been using a vintage Mullard recently – but I’m not sure that it makes a difference vs. a modern JJ)
The Tung-Sol 7581A is a good value and sounded good with the 6DJ8, but didn’t outperform the Groove Tube Gold Series GT6L6 GE in my system.
While the Genalex Gold Lion E88CC/6922 was not my favorite with either the KT88 or 6L6GC, it sounded good with both.
Bottom line, I’ve tried many different combinations (involving, in addition to the tubes already listed, 6N1P-EB and EL34). There were some other combinations that also sounded good – again depending on my mood.
Of course, your mileage
will vary depending on your speakers, and your taste.
FYI, with every combination of tubes that I’ve tried thus far, the transformers have never gotten more than slightly warm.
I’m going to stop tube rolling for a while, before I wear out the tube sockets …