Where do you shop your replacement tubes?

[roger]

Specifically for kt150 and pcc88's?

[admin]

There have been a couple of threads on tube purchases here on CJO so you may want to try and do a search for other opinions. I've bought tubes for my equipment directly from CJ as well as tubedepot.com in the past. I've had a good experience with both.

[roger]

Thanks for the reply. I check tubedepot but they do not carry pcc88 from Philips. I will poke around and see where else I can find.

[roberto]

Hola Roger,

I found this PCC-88 at a very fair price. Take a look, they do ship everywhere.

https://www.grelly.uk/itm/pcc88-7dj8-ph ... 0746635558

Happy listening!

[roger]

Thanks for your help roberto as always.

[Big Dog RJ]

Just placed an order through The Tube Store USA, since the specific types of tubes I'm seeking are no where else... Not even at Tube Depot, only CJ and these chaps have this particular one.

It is the Mullard M8080 also known as the 6C4 premium.
Both the monoblocks of the LP125's run this tube as the front end for the gain input stage being the first tube to receive the signal from the preamp.

Tubes will take around 3 days to arrive, so I'm hoping they would be in good nick!
The last ones I ordered through CJ were similar in price but they didn't last too long... At least one did but the other failed in under just a month! So this time round I'm trying something new, especially after having paid a premium for just a pair, I want to give this a go and see if they're worth it.
Will report once in. Cheers, RJ

[admin]

Let us know how the tubes turn out.

[roger]

Both Tube Depot and The Tube Store don't carry Philips pcc 88 only from where Roberto suggested does. But I am a bit concerned about ordering something internationally so I probably will just order from CJ directly.

[Big Dog RJ]

I understand your concerns Roger, however consider this:

There's really no such thing as "internationally" ... Even CJ has to order their tube replacements from suppliers, who are actually based internationally! So only if the product is locally made it sourced, every item coming from CJ is actual overseas based.

The main thing to look out for, is to determine whether the supplier is genuine or not, if they're counterfeit tubes/brands, or basically made in China. Nothing against the Chinese, some of them make very high end audio gear, which we've never seen nor heard. The point I'm stating is that if the original brand, such as Mullard is supposed to be made in England and you get that exact tube from wherever you order across the globe, that's great! But after it arrives and you discover it's made in China rather than UK, then this is an issue.

I've talked with Lew J extensively on this during my dealership days. He confirmed that the main reason for purchasing from reliable suppliers is to maintain reliability. This they encourage CJ users to purchase directly from CJ. Makes perfect sense.

OTH, after having a few decades of experience in high-end audio, I'm well aware of the counterfeits, and so far I can tell straight away from the original compared with the fake. It's not an easy task at the beginning but after a while you can identify the flaws...

The Tube Store carries a wide range of tubes for every amplifier ever made by CJ to date. They are also authorised tube resellers and in fact when you place your order, they ask you for which particular amplifier the tube has been ordered... I think that's a pretty high service level to start with.

I've always placed my tube reorders through CJ and found them to be very reliable over the decades. However, since 2016 or around 3 years since, the tubes ordered directly from CJ have had failures within the warranty period. Way too soon than compared to tubes ordered through CJ back in 1998, those tubes used to last forever!

This is the first time I'm placing an order away from CJ, I thought I'd try to see if I get better value and a bit more longevity would help!

If you're comfortable ordering from CJ and their tube's have been reliable, by all means most certainly continue to do this. I'm not promoting other companies over CJ, I would never do that. I'm only trying out these smaller tubes, just to see if there's anything positive out of it.

I will continue to always purchase the output tubes from CJ, since they also carry out a burn-in / matching process based on your amplifiers. So this is another significant attribute ordering through CJ, plus larger output tubes are far more costly compared to input/driver signal tube's. I personally wouldn't risk that!

I'll report back once they have been fitted and all is firing away. In the meantime CJ has promised to send one free to the dealer / importer for me to have as a replacement. So I'm looking forward to that. This is basically the third tube on the M8080 that has failed since August. In the past I've never had sudden issues with Mullards, since they usually last forever. 3 failures over a period of 5 months... Now it's starting to worry me.

Have a good one now, RJ

[Big Dog RJ]

Good news & bit perplexing...

The good news is that I contacted my CJ importer in QLD and mentioned about the M8080 failure plus the sputtering noises causing the output tube's LEDs to flicker... Changing that tube with a much older Mullard as a backup tube proved to be successful. However there's a very slight imbalance between channels / monoblocks.

He advised that since it was not a continuous sputtering noise, and one that did not rise / rush or get louder like a kettle boiling, I should have a look at the base of the tube and clean its pins. And so I did using "deoxit" solution.

Cleaned up the little bugger real good, waited a few minutes to fully dry (5 mins) and popped the tube back in - marvellous! No noises, no sputtering, no kettle boiling, quiet as a mouse and clean as a whistle!

So that's good news...

Perplexing is- how come? Anyone know of such a phenomenon? Anyone experienced a similar scenario?
Please let me know, and how you overcame the problem... In all my experience with this tube gear, this is the very first time I've ever cleaned a tube placed it back in and everything works perfectly... Still scratching my head.

Anyway, the other tubes are on the way, since this one's working just fine I'm in no hurry at all.

Appreciate any feedback, thanks RJ

[admin]

Not an electric engineer, but the only thing I think of is that if there was any oxidation or dirt, it would increase the resistance across the connector and connector pins of the tube. I guess that could alter the sound?

[roger]

Big Dog RJ - thank you very much for sharing this invaluable information from your experience. I think I would move forward with ordering with CJ and report back on the status. I am swapping out the pre drive that came with the amp according to a dear friend that it will improve the warmness on my setup. I also will order a set of output kt150 for backups.

[Big Dog RJ]

Admin, agreed!
But I still can't understand how cleaning the tubes pins sorted out the sputtering noises... When in fact the much older Mullard tube I'm using as a backup is way older and doesn't look as shiny as the new tube's pins. And the backup tube works perfectly!

My CJ tech says that there are microscopic dirt elements on the pins including in the tube base that can build up over a period of time, nothing to do with either a new or old tube.. Such that when the older tube was placed in, it was probably used to the dirt buildup. Whereas the newer tube couldn't cope with this mess, hence created a racket... Get me out of here! And so a good clean up is what helped.

Anyway, now the new Mullard m8080 sounds marvellous so all good at the moment.

It still seems perplexing though...
RJ

[Big Dog RJ]

Big Dog RJ - thank you very much for sharing this invaluable information from your experience. I think I would move forward with ordering with CJ and report back on the status. I am swapping out the pre drive that came with the amp according to a dear friend that it will improve the warmness on my setup. I also will order a set of output kt150 for backups.

Cheers Roger, glad to hear that my explanation helped. You can't go wrong with ordering through CJ plus if there's a faulty tube, they would replace it immediately.

You mentioned that you were ordering some KT150's, which power amp are you using at the moment?
RJ

[roger]

Hey Big Dog RJ - I got an ART150 last month

[Big Dog RJ]

Hey Big Dog RJ - I got an ART150 last month

ART150! Oh nice one mate. SOTA at its finest.
Very well done, cheers and enjoy.
Best, RJ

[bear]

Roger, congratulations on the ART 150. Easily one of the best stereo amps in current production.

I would caution you against tube swapping when the amp is only one month old. This amplifier takes a very long time to break in. While I am aware that there are many who don't believe in break in, I find how the sound changes over time to be audible. You will think that the amp has settled in after about 300 hours but you are not fully there yet. IMHO at least 1000 hours of use causes an amazing transformation. The warmness you are trying to achieve by changing the input tubes will happen dramatically over time. Since I don't recommend leaving the amp on when unattended this may take a full year listening a little bit each day. Your patience will be rewarded.

[roberto]

Hola Roger,
Agreed 100% with Bear. His advise is the best! You should give time to your new power amp. You can´t imagine the big transformation for good it is going to happen when you hit the 300 hours, and another transformation for good when hits the 400 hours.

Read twice the Bear's recommendations.

Happy listening!

[Big Dog RJ]

Tube order update:

The Mullards arrived on Mon, safe & sound. Very well packed. I hadn't had the chance to try them out as yet until just now...
All is well with these new Mullards and as usual sound superb on the monoblocks. I have not noticed any significant differences between the CJ ordered Mullards and these ones, comparing side by side, can't pinpoint any differences.

The only major thing I could harp on about, was the extra cost paid through Tubestore, it was in fact a fair amount higher than CJ's order, about $70 more to have the package shipped from the US direct to my door in Aus via FedEx shipping, now that was a bit costly. I'm glad the tubes have arrived in record time, comparing that to ordering through my CJ importer, which sometimes takes close to a month!

However, their charges are very reasonable and so patience is the virtue there... In that case I'll just stick with CJ. OTH Tube Depot or Upscale Audio may have been slightly less but none of them carried this particular Mullard M8080 / 6C4 premium tube.

CJ also has plenty of NOS as well, so might as well just stick with them. Cheers to all and keep those tunes playing! RJ

[Big Dog RJ]

I sincerely think the info stated by CJ in nearly every owner's manual, clearly states that they highly recommend tube replacement sets ordered from them. Although this makes perfect sense from both a product reliability point of view, as well as a business point of view, there's always other reliable sources offering good quality tubes.

I guess it's like going to the dentist or doctor, once you've visited them once you will know straight away whether you're going to return to them... Reliability and trust plays a huge role, I would suggest go with the supplier who has offered the best service, best value and best product, regardless!

Cheers, and all the best! RJ