Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[bearcity]

Originally Posted by oldominion

Well, I'm in full "buyer beware" mode for the Sophia Electric 6sn7. Two out of the four I've purchased have failed drastically.

There is some documentation of failure of these Sophia Electric 6SN7's on the internet, and I appear to be the latest person who has been duped into paying far too much for a tube.

I have sworn off Chinese tubes in general for that reason. Too many failures for the $$$. When I buy vintage Soviet tubes 10 at a time and a few are bad or miss-matched beyond usability I am not broken up about it. At <$10/ I just pull out another and away we go. My Sophia 274b mesh lasted less than a year. Sounded good, but not that good. Psvane uk 6sn7, a couple months. Shuguang (sp) 6sn7 blue glass, a couple days. Black glass 6sn7, one section DOA. I assume others have better luck than me but I’m out. But those round glass 6sn7 look so cool.[emoji848]

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by oldominion

Well, I'm in full "buyer beware" mode for the Sophia Electric 6sn7. Two out of the four I've purchased have failed drastically.

I sent my preamp down to Dennis/Straitwire to check out the persistent hum I've been having issues with and thought it would be a good idea to send the tubes as well. Apparently, the SE 6sn7 was the cause of the instability in the preamp as it went nuts while on Straitwire's bench, according to Dennis.

As for the hum, we shall see if I still have issues when it returns. I'll say that I've got a long phono chain that has always been difficult to ground: Thorens TD124>Ortofon SPU>CineMag SUT>Magi Phonomenal phono pre>Inspire pre.

I'm also going to repeat something I think is important to remember: the Inspire preamp is the best sounding preamp I've ever had in my system. It's clear as gin, full of body, lively, exciting but not bright...everything I've ever wanted in a preamp. I'm excited to get it back as I've missed it.

There is some documentation of failure of these Sophia Electric 6SN7's on the internet, and I appear to be the latest person who has been duped into paying far too much for a tube.

Sorry to hear that. What did Sophia have to say?

I have not had any issues with them. I use one as the input tube in my PSE.

[bwilson51]

I just bought a used Inspire Hot Rod amp and I plan on usi g Gold Lion KT-88's , would someone tell me what other tubes will work with this amp.I plan on using a 5u4gb rectifier tube,that is what the original owner was using .The amp was built 4/18.I am looking forward to using it with my LP-3.1 preamp.If I need to pick up a 5ar4 tube I was thinking of getting a gold lion .

[FloridaBoy]

Originally Posted by bwilson51

I just bought a used Inspire Hot Rod amp and I plan on usi g Gold Lion KT-88's , would someone tell me what other tubes will work with this amp

What speakers will it be driving?

[bwilson51]

I will be using Klipschorns

[oldominion]

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

Sorry to hear that. What did Sophia have to say?

I have not had any issues with them. I use one as the input tube in my PSE.

Sophia has been very responsive. However they initially would not give me full return price on credit even though the tube failed within 30 days (they have a 30 day guarantee). Tried to charge me a 20% restocking fee, which makes no sense to me. Two out of four tubes failed and you're trying to hit me up for a "restocking fee" whatever that is?

But it's all sorted by this point. Would I prefer my money back instead of credit? Yes, I suppose I would...but there is no money back guarantee on tubes.

[ismelllikepoop]

I wouldn't call that responsive,I'd call that garbage support.

[decooney]

Originally Posted by oldominion

Well, I'm in full "buyer beware" mode for the Sophia Electric 6sn7. Two out of the four I've purchased have failed drastically....

Also, BEWARE of some USA resellers who don't properly box, pack, and ship tubes with extra care.

I spoke with an overseas distributor (after a year of their recurring failing tubes) finally figured it out (pairs and quad sets) were getting to the US okay, testing well. After a year of investigation they learned some USA resellers were going cheap on re-packaging mailing out with small thin boxes, limited protective wrapping inside, not taking extra care for an extra 2$ in materials.

To compare, I bought two quads and two pairs overseas distributor-direct. In every case they were packed ridiculously well. All arrived safely. No issues.

Tubes get crushed in shipping with limited packing and care by some resellers. Tell the merchant to take a photo of their packaging and email it to you before you pay for the tubes. If they won't, just move on.

[Bombadil]

Originally Posted by bearcity

I have sworn off Chinese tubes in general for that reason. Too many failures for the $$$.

I hadn't given this much thought, but of the boxes of tubes that I own, I don't own a single tube made in China. Have them from all over the world, including Japan. But no Chinese tubes. Mostly USA and Russian. Have had good luck with new (and old) production Russian, no failures so far. That's over 25 years of owning various tube gear.

[Coltrane1]

Hi All!

Hope everyone is holding up okay. What's new on the Inspire horizon? I'm seeking something to drive KT150 tubes.

Any suggestions?

Thank you - Be safe!