Anyone try the NEW 300B Tubes from Western Electric? Worth the Money? Better or Different than older Ones?

[Tinear1]

@JoeyGun... Yes, mine clink & ping a few times as they warm up. However, my speakers are 104db efficient horns so ANY high frequency noise is very apparent. That being said my Psvane Acme 300B also make the same startup pings and had done so for over a year. Frankly I am very happy with the WE 300B performance thus far and with a 5yr warranty have no worries.

 

[cjfrbw]

I have some ancient globe 183 and they ping while warming up, as did some of the STC tubes when they were newer. I don't think it means anything It is an adjustment noise while they approach temperature stability.

 

[Tinear1]

All... A bit of an update on my WE-300B pair. So now at about 300 hrs and the sound top to bottom easily bests my Psvane Gold 300B and Psvane Acme 300B tubes. Very open and airy top end, huge soundstage, tight tuneful lower octaves (note I do use class-D for my base system starting at 80Hz) so my system would not be the best reference as to how the WE handles deep base. The midrange, OMG so smooth and balanced with extreme depth of detail. If you are on the fence, jump in the waters is great!

 

[anubisgrau]

Current price?

 

[Tinear1]

$1,450.00 delivered.

 

[bodhisattva]

has anyone been able to make a comparison of these WE 300Bs to the takatsuki 300Bs ?

 

[Cellcbern]

FYI = scroll down to the section on the "new" Western Electric 300B's:

Gramophone Dreams #51: Feliks Audio Arioso amplifier & the Western Electric 300B tube Page 2

The lesson here is: If you have a tube amp that offers multiple output taps, never assume 8 ohms to 8 ohms, or 4 ohms to 4 ohms. Try them all and choose the one that pleases you most. My only criticism of the Feliks Arioso was: It never took acid and rolled naked in the Woodstock mud. It played...

www.stereophile.com

Note the 5 year warranty.

 

[paulchiu]

Hello,
For those of you who ordered WE300B Matched Pairs, how closely were the specifications? Ohms, etc?
Also, do they glow in the dark? Is there any haze inside the tubes?
Thanks.

 

[Willgolf]

I just put in 16 WE 300B tubes in my Canary Grand Reference Mono Amps. I under-biased the tubes to break them in for two days and then increased it to about 90% of where they will end up running. Each tube had totally different biasing numbers to start with. I also ordered an extra pair, which I will try in my Lampi Pacific.

I have about 15 hours with them. They are replacing Gold Lion. Early impression....a much deeper bass, hearing more of the instruments especially drums and cymbals, more concert and life-like. Between the new tubes and QSA yellow fuses, I am expecting each day to get a little better.

 

[calloway]

I replaced my Psvane ACME 300B with the WE 300B Rosville tubes 3 days ago. The out of the box impression is that the new tubes are indeed better.The soundstage is better both wide and deep. The midrange is amazing and the imaging is so much better. A great start.

 

[cpcat]

Quad of WE 300bs arrived yesterday.
Using in Lampi B7 MKII DAC -balanced model.
So far -better than a quad of TJ 300b mesh globes I have been using, and still just breaking in. I want to resist the “newest and greatest” hyperbole but…well they just might be.
I got a new Tshirt too.

 

[Willgolf]

I purchased 16 WE 300 B tubes for my amp. I had one go bad which also resulted in a blown resistor. I have another one that has wide fluctuations in biasing. This is a concern to me, especially for the price. I will say when all were working the sound was way better than my Gold Lions.

 

[cpcat]

I’m sorry to hear that- but the 5 yr warranty helps assuming you get good customer service from WE. I certainly hope you do and please update here.

 

[miniguy]

Takatsuki is the ticket.

 

[Willgolf]

I’m sorry to hear that- but the 5 yr warranty helps assuming you get good customer service from WE. I certainly hope you do and please update here.

Thankfully, there is the warranty from WE. I am going to send back two tubes. Unfortunately, I had to take my amp in to get repaired and they won't pay for that.

 

[BruceD]

Takatsuki is the ticket.

Yep--I've had a Quad of Taka' 300B's running 12 years virtually non stop--never a skerrick of trouble/ noise free today as from day one.

Sounding Glorious as ever--recommended!

BruceD

 

[Zero000]

Buying these early on is evidently a bit of a risk.

I'm leaving it for a least a year until they get things settled.

 

[dminches]

Buying these early on is evidently a bit of a risk.

I'm leaving it for a least a year until they get things settled.

I am not sure why you say that unless you have heard of more failures than the one mentioned here.

 

[cpcat]

There are odd failure reports of just about any of the current production tubes -even from Takatsuki- we are talking vacuum tubes here after all.

It‘s riskier to buy used or supposed NOS from eBay IMO, not to mention the fact that true matched quads or even pairs are basically unobtainable that way.

 

[Zero000]

There are odd failure reports of just about any of the current production tubes -even from Takatsuki- we are talking vacuum tubes here after all.

It‘s riskier to buy used or supposed NOS from eBay IMO, not to mention the fact that true matched quads or even pairs are basically unobtainable that way.

Quads I take your point.

Supposed NOS I take your point. They rarely really are unused when they say so on eBay or anywhere else.

However, after decades of using valves/tubes, the best new production ones simply cost more than is justified relative to decent condition NOS tubes. And the best of the new production ones aren't generally better and in a lot of cases can't match the best old production types.

In my experience that's just a fact. I haven't got a new production triode that betters my fave old production efforts. And I have bought quite a few new types. They look prettier for the most part, but they haven't got what it takes to be the best.