5687 Advice

[Pidge22]

Hi all am looking to change the 5687 valves in my Tron Seven GT spec linestage ,currently have matched Sylvania 5687 WA which the designer recommends due to there quietness.I wondered what recommendations there wer out there for alternatives, I have read good things about 5687WA Thomson CSF (French) (Bendix 6900 beaters etc).
Was conidering Sylvania GB-5687 but have read that the Sylvania GT5687 & 5687WA are very similar.
Any suggetions would be appreciated but they need to be quiet...

 

[shakey]

My amps each use 2 5687 tubes. Power tubes are 6550s and 5U4G rectifiers. I have both NOS and current production 6550 tubes. Right now I have a nice quad of the older solid grey plate Tung Sol 6550’s in the amps. I find these to be very smooth and probably the most transparent of the power tubes I have. With that said, I find that the Tung Sol 5687 tubes are very similar. If I want to warm up the sound a bit I like both the RCA bronze plates or the Raytheon 5687 WA tubes. If I decide to throw in my GE 6550A tubes, those have a tubby bottom end that can make them sound a bit warmer. In that case I like the Tung Sol 5687’s.

 

[Sablon Audio]

7119 / e182cc is another option to consider.

 

[adamaley]

Although they've increased in price recently, the TS Skinny Plate 5687 is warm and resolving. I use them in my monoblocks.

 

[Ron A.]

I have replaced the 5687 tubes in my Tron Seven Ultimate pre-amp with the 5687 Tung Sol black plates (1950's vintage) with excellent results. They are quiet and very resolving.

Ron

 

[Cellcbern]

I have replaced the 5687 tubes in my Tron Seven Ultimate pre-amp with the 5687 Tung Sol black plates (1950's vintage) with excellent results. They are quiet and very resolving.

Ron

1950's Tung Sol long black plate 5687's are the best sounding I've tried in my Modwright modified Marantz SA8005's analogue tube ouput stage - quiet, resolving, accurate timbre/tonality, very natural sounding.

 

[shakey]

Although they've increased in price recently, the TS Skinny Plate 5687 is warm and resolving. I use them in my monoblocks.

I have some really nice matched pairs of the TS skinny plates. I should put them back in now that I'm using the older TS 6550 solid grey plates in my amps.

 

[adamaley]

I have some really nice matched pairs of the TS skinny plates. I should put them back in now that I'm using the older TS 6550 solid grey plates in my amps.

Please report back as to how the skinny plates compare to the tubes you mentioned - RCA bronze plates or the Raytheon 5687 WA. I'm looking to shake things up a bit but still stay in the warm tonality side of the spectrum

 

[Chop]

+1 for Tung Sol's. If you want to be really specific, 1950's Tung Sol long black plate. I've tried all sorts of 5687 in my pre amp and those are heh best combination of sound quality and quietness.

 

[shakey]

Please report back as to how the skinny plates compare to the tubes you mentioned - RCA bronze plates or the Raytheon 5687 WA. I'm looking to shake things up a bit but still stay in the warm tonality side of the spectrum

Sorry for the delay posting but I was out of town. Anyway, I did a quick back and forth between the Tung Sol skinny plates (or ladder plates) and the RCA bronze plates. Each of my amps use 2 5687's, so I used matched pairs I had sourced from Brent Jesse and Andy at VTS. My amps use 6550 tubes, and I had a very nice quad of the older Tung Sol solid grey plates.

The Tung Sol have tighter bass, was a bit more vivid sounding, better imaging and better separation of instruments. The bass with the RCA tubes is not quite as tight but still enjoyable. It's not flabby. I would also say that there's a slight coloration with the bronze plates. The soundstage had nice width, but the instruments didn't quite have the same separation.

The older Tung Sol 6550s are much smoother than the current production tubes, IMO. My guess is that if I had the current production Tung Sol 6550s in the amps, I would probably prefer the bronze plates as they could help take the edge off. Also, I did most of the listening playing rock CD's. The bronze plates helped take a bit of the edge off with not so great recordings. Listening to Blue Note reissues on vinyl, I prefer the T-S skinny plates. Honestly I thought they both sound great and could live with either tube.