Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

My Takatsuki's are at the 80 hour mark and continue to improve. This tube does not behave like other power tubes I have owned. Most have a period or a break in cycle at which point the sound is not optimum until a significant amout of hours are logged. These tubes have sounded absolutely stellar right out of the box and continue to improve in my system. Absolutely worth the bucks in my opinion.

Markus, After my very first session with these tubes I wrote Israel Blume and said that he really should find a way to hear the Takatsuki in his(pride and joy creation) Frankenstein amplifier.I know he`s quite fond of the Black Treasure(for good reason). I tried to express to him how much better the Takatsuki is.He said he`d check into them. I hope he does and was`nt just being polite with his response to me.As you said in an earlier post the change is profound.
Regards,

"I tried to express to him how much better the Takatsuki is.He said he`d check into them. I hope he does and was`nt just being polite with his response to me.”

Charles1dad,
LOL! I did the same thing and got the same response from the distributor of my NAF when I found the Royal Princesses. He was just being polite. I hope Israel takes keen to your suggestion. IMO, prospective buyers of any good 300b tube amplifier should be offered, or at least be made aware of, this upgrade potential.

The Western Electric's arrived today. So here is an initial view, I am not very good at explaining this stuff but I'll try.

I am using a Tron discovery & Tron Seven pre. Speakers are Avantgarde Duos.

I started out with EML 300b's (standard ones) based on the recommendation of the amp designer and used them for about 1 year, when I got the takatsuki's last September they really improved everything better/higher treble, deeper tighter bass. They seemed to bring out more detail in the music. They were definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

The only negative I would have for them was that on one or two songs, there were a couple of sections when listing with the EMLs that they had that magical creamy texture to the music, the kind of thing where you get goosebumps from listening to it and how great it sounds (e.g the guitar part in a kings of convenience song called 24-25 at about 2:30 was one of them)the takastuki didn't seem to give you that magic on those songs but improved everything else.

Going from the takastuki to the WE's that magic is straight back but its so much better it is there on every song! It has the same bass extension as the takastuki's but it isnt as detailed as the takastuki. They are very musical and engaging.

I'm really enjoying going through all my music and re-listen to it with these tubes.

Simmo2741

Thank you very much for your impressions, great 300B's collection!
I know about that magic feeling you have been describing, this is exactly what draw me away from tubes I mentioned on this thread, they just don't have that and didnt sound natural in my system.

Anyway, will be nice to read more of your posts later.

Enjoy!

THX