[TV MAN]

In searching for some tubes for my Fisher, I am a little puzzled about the cost of the older 6BQ5 tubes made in England, esp at the Blackburn plant. I wonder what is so special about them to drive such a high price, even for well used tubes. Can someone more Hi Fi savvy than myself enlighten me?
   
I can remember pulling a set of these out of an old VM "Hi Fi" record player and thinking they were bad since they looked all black and burned up - needless to say, they weren't the problem, and unfortunately are long gone, along with the record player by about 40 years . (and yes, I robbed the pic from Ebay)

[PhilcoMike]

Since Ron doesn't have an hi-fi audio section take a look over at AudioKarma in the Tube Audio section. After a while the term Audiophool will become clear.

Thanks,

Mike

[Phlogiston]

No. But there is a significant difference in the 7189 and especially the 7189A which are higher voltage variants.

[Paul Philco322]

The 6BQ5 is listed in one of the ads here...

http://vintagetubeservices.com/mullard-products-tour/

These things have followings, and probably drives the price as much as it's performance.

Paul

[Arran]

 What justifies the price? Absolutely nothing but audiophools thinking that an EL84/6BQ5 made in a Phillips owned subsidiary, in Britain, using Phillips machinery, manufacturing Phillips designed tubes to Phillips manufacturing specs, with a label saying "Mullard" in water soluble paint rather then "Phillips" makes them better tubes. So whether the label on the tube says Phillips, Valvo, Mullard, Rogers, or Amperex, (sorry can't remember the name of Phillips' French tube company) they are all the same tubes other then the label and the box. The only reason why people think that they are something special is because a lot of classic HiFi manufacturers used them, and that was because Mullard probably offered them for a cheaper price then RCA or Sylvania would have, and offered to print their name on them like those EICO branded 6BQ5s. But a refuse to believe that because a tube is made in Blackburn, England, rather then Eindhoven, in Holland, is better when it's the same company.
Regards
Arran

[Arran]

No. But there is a significant difference in the 7189 and especially the 7189A which are higher voltage variants.

Just like the diferences between a 6L6G, and a 6L6GB, 6L6GTB, and a 6L6GC, why they could not have come up with a new number entirely for each must have been related to marketing.
Regards
Arran

[TV MAN]

Thanks for the insight. There is some interesting reading about these tubes. Thanks for the website links! There may be some merit to all this, but I guess that depends a lot on your or my ears, equipment, and of course, budget. It sounds like I may want to search through my boxes of tubes for my old, original Fisher tubes that I replaced back when I first acquired my receiver.

[Paul Philco322]

Lots of good reasonbly priced tube sellers out there if you are willing to take a different brand.

paul

[codefox1]

Agree, Mullard tubes were pretty well regarded then and now. But plenty of other good ones out there too. And yes, everybody made for everybody else. Just how many aspirin plants are there in the world?

[mikethedruid]

From my own experience, any well matched set from a reputable manufacturer, whether Mullard, or Philips, or RCA, or Sylvania, will do fine for the push pull output, and that is the only place it makes a heck of a lot of difference, and, of course in the parallel - push pull combinations one needs a 4 match..Of course, in either case, after 6 months of use, the match won't be nearly as close anyway. For the single stages, as long as the tube is within spec it should be fine. More often any distortion problems are more likely due to aging parts whose values have shifted than what brand of tube one uses as long as they are in spec and decent tubes. There was a great deal of silly mythology and audio snobbery back in the tube days driven by manufacturer's hype, just as there is today.

[thirtiesradio]

Telefunken is another tube that commands a high price. I do like the Telefunken 12ax7's, 12au7's etc. as they seem to last forever. They were factory screened for 10,000 hour filament life. Many of the US "made for military" were great tubes as well.