845's

If they glow, this is the place to be
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Ali Tait
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#1 845's

Post by Ali Tait »

Hi folks am thinking of getting some better 845's for my amp.Was considering 845M's but seeing as I got a nice little bonus from work,could stretch to KR's if they are worth it! I don't reckon NOS are even worth thinking about unless I win the lottery.I would guess the M's are the best of modern production at a sane price? the question is are the KR's worth the extra outlay? Anyone have any knowledge or experience with any of these?

Regards,Ali
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Nick
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#2

Post by Nick »

The possible problem with the 845M's is there lower max dissapation, so it depends on how hard you are working them.

I only have direct experence of the kr300bxls and they seem very nice, I only have one working one, but they measured as having clearly lower distortion for the same output as a EH 300b.

On ther downside, they do sound a bit more sterile, less warm and romantic.

But remember I am not talking about the 845's so the above could be entirly ignorable.
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#3

Post by simon »

Nick wrote:On ther downside, they do sound a bit more sterile, less warm and romantic.
You may well be right Nick, but I do wonder whether if they're quite transparent to how they're driven. I've heard my KRs sound quite cool driven by 5693s and a passive, but with a little more drive from Ed's Squeezebox instead of the passive they sounded like different amps, not sterile at all. Perhaps others who were there could comment - could be my cloth ears again.

Non of this necessarily helps with 845s though. I've often wondered what their 2A3s are like for that matter.
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Nick
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#4

Post by Nick »

On ther downside, they do sound a bit more sterile, less warm and romantic.

Actually, I think I should have used "may" instead of "do" in that sentence.

Actually, I think they have less of a "sound" than other 300b's, but this can possibly lead to the sound of the rest of the amp being more obvious.
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Paul Barker
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#5

Post by Paul Barker »

Have you been down to the flooded areas working overtime Ali?

I wish that I could say give them a try but I am sorry to say that if it were me in your shoes I would expect it to be a gamble and wouldn't risk it.

But someone has to.
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Toppsy
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#6

Post by Toppsy »

Ali,

I have tried the metal plate 845 tubes in my Yarland amp and liked them very much. Unfortunately I dropped one whilst removing them and it fell on my wooden floor and now there are dislodged bits flying around the innards! So I only have one now.

Presently I am using these: http://www.tubeman.com/item403.htm and though they are far superior to the standard ones the bass detail and top end sparkle is a tad better on the metal plates. Didn't buy a replacement metal plate tube as at the time they were only being sold in matched pairs. So went for the cheaper option as Nick at the time was designing the gm70 replacement.

Beware the chinese valves though as Diyhifisupply used to sell 845 until he was getting too many failures due to poor QA at the factory.

This I have just found on the following web site for 845M's:
http://www.sophiaelectric.com/shuguang/shuguang.htm

QUOTE!

Latest news regarding Shuguang 845 metal plate tubes:
On March 20, 2007, Shuguang factory officially informed us that there are no more 845 metal plate tubes in stock that meets Sophia Electric’s standard until next production this coming fall (September 2007). Shuguang still has many sub-standard 845 metal plate tubes in the warehouse waiting to be clearance to Chinese domestic dealer(s). At this time, Sophia Electric only has about 15 pairs left. We are trying to arrange a new production run sooner.

So you may be best off with the KR's.

You're welcome to come over my place with your amp and try out the tubes I have. And if you can locate a single metal plate tube we have a pair to compare to.

Regards
Colin
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#7

Post by simon »

Nick wrote:Actually, I think they have less of a "sound" than other 300b's, but this can possibly lead to the sound of the rest of the amp being more obvious.
Yes, this is exactly what I suspect. I think they may well be inherently quite neutral, which in turn can be less forgiving of what's in front of them... Time will tell, when I've had chance to play with different drivers etc.
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Nick
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#8

Post by Nick »

Ali asked me to post this (its got a link in it)

Thanks for the replies Gentlemen.Much food for thought.Paul,have been involved in the flood aftermath but the nice little bonus is due to the extremely high price of scrap copper at the moment! Wink
Colin thanks for the offer may take you up on that.
I found this site which seems to be very cheap for KR stuff and I'm wondering what the catch is! Has anyone any experience of it?

http://www.valves.uk.com/vatmaster.htm
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#9

Post by simon »

That's Rod Burman. I got my KRs from him. No problems.
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Ali Tait
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#10

Post by Ali Tait »

Great thanks Simon.
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#11 845

Post by John Caswell »

Ali do you still have your Mr Liang amps, I am playing around with mine as I did a bit of checking around and reckon the 6AC7 is pretty close to the 6J4P used in the front end.
Will let you know

John
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Ali Tait
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#12

Post by Ali Tait »

Hi John/All
Yes still have them.Will await your verdict with interest.
Regards,Ali
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