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ANOTHER 6SN7 post, this time about 3 specific types.

After I got my current-version (and now much-improved) Antique Sound Lab 'Canes*, I started searching for great-sounding 'N7s. I gathered lots thru eBay and, with the help of my listening panel, came to the following conclusions:
1. My favorite overall is the Ken-Rad ribbed, copper-rodded blackplate, staggered or not and VT-231 or not. They sound to me to be slightly warmly balanced, nicely detailed, and NOT edgy in the treble, something I seem to be sensitive to even tho my hearing is pretty rolled off.
2. The Tung-Sol and Sylvania angled-blackplates are a little too edgy and cool for me.
3. The RCA laddered-blackplates are just boring.
4. Brimars were about as nicely warmly balanced as the KRs but were too edgy for me. A friend LOVES them and is looking for more.

I've accumulated a bunch of the KRs, mostly thru eBay, but my audiofoolia nervosa has reared its ugly head and I'm looking again. I stumbled into ONE and only one roundplate Tung-Sol (Raytheon-labeled), and it measures very strongly and sounds good by itself, but I don't yet have a mate for it, and may not any time soon at the prices they sell for.

I found these...

...flat-tripled-runged-plate Raytheons, and they, too sound plenty OK. These seem to be the 'flatplates' mentioned here... http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=119638 ...and pictured here... http://photo.head-fi.org/showphoto.php?photo=4667&cat=579 .

Anyone have an opinion on the sound of these?

I've read a bunch about the TS roundplate, mostly that it's the best-sounding 'N7 ever made. Is it so great that I should pursue a mate or 3 for my single, even at c. $125 each? Could someone tell me fairly specifically how they sound?

Pls understand that I'm no GEA and that I have to work hard to hear differences among tubes, ICs, etc. (ever hear of an AAAA/BBBB/AAA/BBB/AA/BB/A/B comparison?), but my system is fairly hi-end and sounds GREAT to me. BUT every time I improve it, such as by adding the c-j MET1 6-channel preamp to it, I hear the sound improve and love it even more. (I LOVE LineArrayNut's comments: "I am no golden ear, nor a tube afficionado, nor have speakers that cost more than my car. But I can still hear ok and know what I like.", linked.)

So am I looking for others' opinions about what I should hear myself? Yes...but... I don't have a pair of TS RPs to listen to, so boys and girls, PLEASE tell me all about them.

* each of which uses 3 'N7s, one for cascaded Voltage gain and then 2 for phase-splitters/cathode-followers, the latter split by banks of output tubes.

-------------------------------------------------------
Tin-eared audiofool and obsessed landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr


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Topic - ANOTHER 6SN7 post, this time about 3 specific types. - jeffreybehr 11:40:23 08/12/06 (21)
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