Mobiusman, you mentioned something that caught my eye: 10,000-hour durability of these tubes. This is not what ARC told me! They claim 6H30P only last up to 4000 hrs in their preamps and have to be replaced with a new set at that point. Did you find this not to be true? Where does the info about 10000-hrs durability come from?
Tube life time is mainly due to cathode evaporation, that depends on the amount of emitted charge. Charge equates current multiplied by time, so durability depends a lot on the operational parameters of the tube. IMHO you should address this question to ARC. I have seen a REF 40 with original tubes with almost 7000 hours playing perfectly and noise free, but once the owner installed new 6h30's the preamplifier sounded much better. I measured these well used tubes and transconductance was still in the good zone.
I have read that ARC advised tube life times are not determined by the operational life time, but by the time that tubes are not operating at their best sonic capabilities anymore.
I have recently replaced Sovtek 6H30 in my ARC Ref Ann with Electro-Harmonix 6H30Pi Gold Pin and I don't like what I'm hearing. The bass is muddy and lacks the punch the Sovtek 6H30 used to provide. The highs are muffled. They are in 80 hrs now. Will this end soon or are they like this because of the gold on the pins?
Could it be that matching of the tubes is less than optimal?
Haven't noticed much of difference (down to level of none) between Sovteks and EH. If I was forced to tell, I would say Sovtek more PRAT, EH slightly smoother, take your choice. I suppose they are from the same production facility anyway.
Haven't noticed much of difference (down to level of none) between Sovteks and EH. If I was forced to tell, I would say Sovtek more PRAT, EH slightly smoother, take your choice. I suppose they are from the same production facility anyway.
I won't venture a cause, but ime that's how the EH sound. Small tubes don't take much time to break-in; I would not expect what you're hearing from the EH to change.
hello to all.. I am an owner of Trulife Audio's TLA 'ATHENA' as my main preamplifier that uses 6H30 tubes.. having deal many years with it I have bought and roll many pairs of 6H30's.. perhaps that tube is the most often rebranded and faked.. so after all those years of living and audition those tubes I have examined them very carefully and found the way to distinguish the fakes 6H30's (that is rebranded new production EH or Sovteks) from the original old Russians 6H30 DR.. here is my article, every friend of this forum can have a look..
I just bought a BAT REX2 preamp and started reading about the difficulties with obtaining NOS 6H30p DR. Do you know of trusty worth supplier of these tubes at a good price? Thanks.
If you like your wallet and your ears, I would advise you to plug in 6n6p in your BAT and forget about 6n30...You'll thank me later
There may still be some NOS 6H30 DR available somewhere, but I do not know of a reliable seller. As far as I know they are mostly gone a few years back. There may be private sellers who have stock put away but I do not have any knowledge there.
The last batch of 1500 6H30-DR was brought over by Evgueny of Conus Audio in Canada. That was around 2005. He sold ~700 6H30DR to thetubestore.com. They sold their last ones for $300 each. Conus had access to many great Russian tubes including the SV 6550C (St. Petersburg origin). I don't think they are still in business, but not certain.
The Sovtek 6H30 EB (or EV) works fine.
I suggest contacting Viktor Khomenko at BAT. info@balanced.com
Be very wary of 6H30-DR counterfeits.
http://www.aca.gr/index/hiend/hiendArticles?row=1988
6n6p are as good as 6h30p-DR NOS for REX2? Aren’t they completely different tubes?If you like your wallet and your ears, I would advise you to plug in 6n6p in your BAT and forget about 6n30...You'll thank me later
I thought Some posts have indicated that EBs aren’t as good as DR NOS.? This is not a consensus?
http://www.lampizator.eu/UPGRADE/upgrade noval tubes to 6H6P.html
I have one of my closest friends doing this swap in his BAT gear and was floored later. I did the same in my ARC Ref6 with same effect.
As they are dirt cheap (still) at least give them a try...in my opinion no comparison with todays crappy 6n30...
When I got my ARC Anniversary 40 it was nice, but not a lot better than other preamps I have had in my system. I replaced all the stock tubes with 6h30p-DR NOS. A BIG difference. Next I replaced the iec with a Furutech NCF. Another nice bump. But it was now like taking a Formula 1 race car out for a Sunday drive. Not the relaxing, close your eyes, and bathe in the music I hear at all the concerts I attend. Thanks to WBF , I read that replacing the GE 6550 with a Tungsol 6550- ( 3 hole) might help and it made a massive improvement! Lastly I put both the power supply and audio chassis up on Shun Mooks. The " flow" of the music is just right in my system now. I could NEVER go back to stock. Audio is a fun journey!
Where are you located? I bought a ton of these tubes when I had an ARC pre amp and phono but now have neither. I may have a pair I could sell you.
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