Bottlehead Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: galyons on November 24, 2015, 06:59:56 PM
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Just another point of reference. Pretty much "spot on" with my experience! Currently I use the Gold Lion and Shuguang Treasures in the Paramount's, so I am biased!!
http://www.wallofsound.ca/audioreviews/triode-roundup-seven-common-man-300b-tubes-compared/ (http://www.wallofsound.ca/audioreviews/triode-roundup-seven-common-man-300b-tubes-compared/)
Cheers,
Geary
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Thanks for posting this! I thought it was an excellent review and I like his simple, no nonsense writing style.
I also want to add that I just picked up a pair of Elrog 300Bs for my Paramounts. There's been a lot of hype about this tube. Also, reliability and availability issues. Supposedly, Elrog has made some changes which has improved reliability.
As for the sound, it's that rare occurrence where the item lives up to the hype! It seems to combine the best attributes of the EML solid plate (clean, transparent) and re-issue WE 300B (warm, smooth).
The Elrog 300B's gain (or is it output power?) sounds a little less than the other 300Bs I have used. Therefore, I have switched back to higher gain WE 396A input/driver tubes for now. Via adapters, I had been using lower gain 6SN7s.
Of course Elrog 300Bs are much more expensive than the tubes evaluated in the linked-to survey but... they are about half the price of re-issue WE 300Bs. I bought my "like new" pair of Elrog 300Bs on Audiogon, so I'm not sure about their current availability. You may want to check with George at Tubes USA.
Gerry
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Gerry,
Sorry to be bringin up an old post, but I am wondering if your Elrogs are still going strong or if they have failed. Any feedback is appreciated.
Best,
Ed
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I've been using the Elrogs for a year plus with zero problems.
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Thanks Aaron, Are yours in the Paramounts? I am running a Kaiju, I am curious if any circuits changes you made would apply to the Kaiju as well?
Can you tell me if yours came from the first or second revision of the tube?
Thanks,
Ed
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Sorry to be bringin up an old post, but I am wondering if your Elrogs are still going strong or if they have failed. Any feedback is appreciated.
Same here - absolutely zero problems with the Elrog 300Bs. I alternate between them and a pair of reissue WE 300Bs in my Paramounts. FWIW, I probably listen to the Elrogs a little more often than the Westerns.
After 39 years in IT, I'm retiring exactly 4 weeks from today. With my newly found free time, I plan to do a more extensive comparison in order to make a final determination of which I like better.
Gerry
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Same here - absolutely zero problems with the Elrog 300Bs. I alternate between them and a pair of reissue WE 300Bs in my Paramounts. FWIW, I probably listen to the Elrogs a little more often than the Westerns.
After 39 years in IT, I'm retiring exactly 4 weeks from today. With my newly found free time, I plan to do a more extensive comparison in order to make a final determination of which I like better.
Gerry
Thanks Gerry. Did you modify your Paramounts to use the Elrogs? Since you are swapping between the WE and the Elrogs it couldn't have been too drastic a change regardless.
Congrats on the retirement, looking forward to mine as well, unfortunately still 10 years or so out.
Best,
Ed
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Hi Ed,
Mine are not true Paramounts and use a different operating point. They are not true 300B's as you probably know already. They are the best sounding tube I've had to date in my system.
Regards,
Aaron
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FWIW, I did the calculation when reliable numbers appeared for the Elrog tubes, and the operating point when installed in the Paramount or Kaiju is pretty close to what I think is ideal. Less gain and less power as noted above - probably 5 watts if I recall correctly - but that's barely audible in most cases.
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Thank you for that Paul!
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+1, Thanks for that Paul. Do you have an opinion whether AC or DC filament power would be preferred with the Elrogs, speaking electrically, not sonically.
Thanks,
Ed
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Elrog would be the best person to ask.
If it were me I would use the DC just because it's stable and very close to spec. The Elrog filament cathode is necessarily stressed pretty hard, so I would be reluctant to stress it further with inexact heater voltage. I am very impressed that Elrog was able to get such performance from thoriated tungsten, it's a technical tour de force.
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Elrog would be the best person to ask.
If it were me I would use the DC just because it's stable and very close to spec. The Elrog filament cathode is necessarily stressed pretty hard, so I would be reluctant to stress it further with inexact heater voltage. I am very impressed that Elrog was able to get such performance from thoriated tungsten, it's a technical tour de force.
Thanks again Paul, I will wait for my DC kit to arrive before trying the Elrogs.
Best,
Ed
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Gerry, Aaron, PJ; I picked up a pair of the Elrog 300Bs, I wanted to say thanks for your input. I am really enjoying the Elrogs. Like Aaron said, they are the best sounding tube I have had to date in my system.
Best,
Ed
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Gerry, Aaron, PJ; I picked up a pair of the Elrog 300Bs, I wanted to say thanks for your input. I am really enjoying the Elrogs. Like Aaron said, they are the best sounding tube I have had to date in my system.
Best,
Ed
That's great news Ed. As I have said before, while I have both Elrog and re-issue WE 300Bs, the Elrogs get most of the playing time. Just out of curiosity, where did you buy your Elrogs from? Thanks.
Gerry
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That's great news Ed. As I have said before, while I have both Elrog and re-issue WE 300Bs, the Elrogs get most of the playing time. Just out of curiosity, where did you buy your Elrogs from? Thanks.
Gerry
My apologies Gerry, I just saw this, better late than never ;). I bought my pair used from a gentleman in Canada. He indicated they had a approximately 200hrs on them, used as backup. I have just had one tube go bad, made static noise, the other still plays fine. Being used I dont know their prior use, but I enjoyed them enough that I am planning to purchase a new pair.
Best Regards,
Ed
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Nice Ed! I'm glad that you like them! Mine are still playing away though one of them has started to sing to me. I'm living with it as they sound great.
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Hey Aaron, yes, I really like them, I just recieved my new set. I bought them from George Lenz at Tubes USA on Wednesday and recieved them today. Letting them warm up now.
Happy Holidays to all.
Best,
Ed
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Hey Aaron, yes, I really like them, I just recieved my new set. I bought them from George Lenz at Tubes USA on Wednesday and recieved them today. Letting them warm up now.
Hi Ed:
How are your new Elrog 300Bs doing? Here's my saga:
In November of 2015 I purchased a pair of like new Elrog 300Bs from a dentist in the Toronto area. The tubes did indeed look and test like new. I really like their sound. Over the last year, I alternated between them and a pair of reissue WE 300Bs in my Paramounts. I slightly preferred the Elrogs over the WEs and they got the majority of playing time (approx. 60% vs. 40% for the WE 300Bs).
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago... I was listening to the Elrogs and heard a static-like noise from the right channel for about 5 seconds. It went away and continued to play fine but I shut off the system. I wasn't sure if it was the Elrog, a driver tube or just a tube socket connection.
The next day, I swapped the Elrogs to opposite amps and they played fine for about 30 minutes. Then, the one in question stopped playing, so I shut off the system. The next day I tested them and was horrified to see that the bad one was indeed dead and the "good" one tested at 50 (Where 58 is the minimum good level).
I recently went back to the Canuck Audio Mart ad for the pair I purchased. Quoting directly from the ad (seller's caps): "THESE ARE THE SECOND GENERATION, IMPROVED OVER THE FIRST GENERATION AND FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH HIGHER PLATE VOLTAGE AMPS SUCH AS...". I never would have bought them otherwise!
Originally, I thought the test report date was from 2015 but now I realize it was probably written in European date format (DD.MM.YY). If correct, they are from July 15, 2014 (15.7.14). That's seems very early to be the improved version. Also, I believe the serial numbers are fairly low (C1025 and C1039).
Gerry
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Hi Gerry, that is exactly how my Elrog went bad, static, followed by more playing then dead. I am unable to test mine so I am unsure where the good one stands. I bought used, the price was right to hear what the fuss was about, so I didn't expect too much out of them, however they did give me enough playing time to know I wanted another set. The set I bought this time is new, so I expect more from them, time will tell. According to George Lenz there have been additional improvements over the gen 2 units, I believe one item was a better vacuum seal.
Have a great holiday!
Best,
Ed