Which NOS tubes on my ASL 1009 for more warmth?

SED is the brand name used by the original manufacturer of "Svetlana" tubes. The current SED's and old Svetlana's as essentially the same tube. They were made in St Petersberg. Around the year 2000+/- this manufacturer lost the use of its name (Svetlana) in North America and adopted the name SED. Its brand logo changed from an S to a winged C (=C=).

If you do some research for user comments here and on Audio Asylum's tube forums you will find that some fairly experienced users consider them amoungst the finest new production and some consider them as good as most NOS. I've been using them for about 15 years and have not been disappointed and have never had a premature failure. I find them tonally neutral. If anything a tad warm compared to some other popular tubes and they might be similar to Mullards, but I've never paid $400 to find out. :-)

Winged Cs are awesome tubes. My $.02 is spending big $ for nos is idiotic.

Hi Jman

I've just bought a used 1009. Which tubes did you finally get? Can you share what you have tried, how they sounded in your system and why you settled on the current ones?

I think you will be quite satisfied with Mullard 12au7s. The boxplate variety is especially nice if you can get it for a good price. I've tried virtually all the top notch 12au7s, and I keep coming back to the Mullards. They have none of the irritating sound qualities of brightness, peakiness, thinness, coolness or stiffness. Ease, balance, musicality and naturalness are their trademarks.

The latest iteration Winged 'C' EL34's and some NOS 12AU7 Mullards should provide all the warmth you'll ever need. (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/view_category.asp?cat=44) (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/SED-Winged-C-EL-34_p_63.html) I agree that the NOS power tubes would be a waste of money. If you purchase from Upscale, you can rest assured the EL34's will be genuine St Petersburg plant tubes, and not seconds or counterfeits. No connection with them, outside of a very satisfied customer.