Which 300B Tube?

R

RDSChicago

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I have a Melody AN300b push pull integrated which takes a quad of 300b's, a pair of 6S97's and a 12AT7. I was thinking about upgrading the tubes? Are the Sophia Royal Princess's worth it? What others would you recommend? I have heard good things about the Genalex Gold Lion PX300b.

What about recommendations for the other tubes?

I listen mostly to jazz.

Thanks!
 
The Elrog's were really really nice, but reliability was questionable. I think Western Electric 300b's are still king.
 
Just picked up a quad of Sophia Royal Princess 300b's amd you know something, they really do make a difference! Richer, deeper and airier notes with the decay on each note more pronounced and resonating. Instruments sound more separated and pronounced. Sometimes rather than upgrading components a little re-accessorizing is all that's needed.
 
RDSChicago said:
Just picked up a quad of Sophia Royal Princess 300b's amd you know something, they really do make a difference! Richer, deeper and airier notes with the decay on each note more pronounced and resonating. Instruments sound more separated and pronounced. Sometimes rather than upgrading components a little re-accessorizing is all that's needed.
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Congrats! I've heard good things about the Sophia's. Did they give you an expected life of the tube?
 
No exact expected life was given but I was told thousands of hours and that seemed sufficient as I probably will fire her up maybe only five hours per week on average.
 
SuperTNT Sapphire Crystal 300BD is very good.
 

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In the Coincident Frankenstein amps the EML XLS have been the standouts between Shanguang Black Treasure, Takasutki (sp) & Elrogs.
YMMV.
 
The Emission Labs Mesh plates are very nice but, you can't run them with amps running higher voltages then WE specs.
I have Coincident Frankenstein amps and run Takatsuki TA-300b and EML XLS tubes. I like the Taks the best but, the XLS are excellent too.

I also have Elrog tubes (3rd set) brand new in the box. I can't use because they don't last in my Franks which run higher voltages. To bad because they sound wonderful.

If anybody wants the Elrogs. I'll give you a really good price. I wouldn't use them for power amps. In preamps and Dacs they will be fine like Lampi dacs and Vinni Rossi LIO they should last a long time.
 
Hi!

I just wanted to point out that the Elrog ER300B reliability issues have been solved two years ago since I took over production. Elrog 300Bs can of course be used in power amps and are able to work at high voltages no problem

Thomas
 
I tried the Elrog 300B and the EML XLS. I thought the Elrog sounded better overall, but my amp seemed to like the extra grunt of the XLS.
 
Thank You for the update Thomas. I'm glad that the reliability problems are solved. My set were made just before you took over so I won't use them in my amps. They are sitting in there box collecting dust.

I'm sure they can make somebody happy for a dac or preamp. If somebody is interested let me know I'll give you a good deal!
 
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