Anyone use tube vibration damping rings? Make any difference?
Anyone recommend a seller for these items to fit ECC83 valves?
Printable View
Anyone use tube vibration damping rings? Make any difference?
Anyone recommend a seller for these items to fit ECC83 valves?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F252090224502
These are what I bought. I wasn't aware I'd been swindled. They are about £3 for 50 from China!.
You just need the right size. I'll measure an ECC83 If I get chance.
I have actually ordered some more expensive ones with 200oC melting point.:lol:
I am probably being ripped off again! They were £8 for 4 rings.
I was going to ask the self same question!
What difference do they make to the sound Oliver?
It's only my opinion but when we first put the phonostage together, the cheap Chinese Transformer buzzed like hell. It was so bad I could actually hear it the back ground. We mounted it on a piece of absorbance board and things massively improved. The noise in the background got a lot better. I then put 3 damper rings on each valve and again, everything just sounded a lot cleaner. Resolution improved. I'm not suggesting that in well designed units, they will have the exact same impact but in my DIY phonostage, they certainly have contributed to a very clean and hi resolution sound.
Thanks Oliver.
I think they stop microphonics in theory and as Oliver has found they result in a cleaner sound.
I agree on suspending a pCB with some sort of suspension mount, on a Valve headlamp I tried, it was vital that this was done due to the gain as you say. The Damper rings are on the valves in my phonostage and that PCB is firmly fixed to the chassis. Think they do make a difference but can see the merits in take other preventative measures before hand.
Never got on with them James to be honest...
A set came with my 300B SET power amp, and felt they dulled the sound down.
After a bit of valve rolling I settled on NOs Tung Sol 5687s as my favourite signal valves, the sillicone rings damped the zing and excitment from the music, taking them off brought it back.
I use some Golden Dragon tube dampers on the the two 12AX7s on my amp and also the tubes on my Phono stage.
On the amp they definitely reduce ringing and tighten the bass.
Shame you already bought some Jimbo as I could have dropped some in the post for you to try...
I bought some tube rings a week ago and popped them on last night. I was not expecting much and as with all things tweakable results can be negligible or positive or negative. I usually rant on how something has made a difference in detail but I thought that in order to give an idea how much of a difference they made I would rank them against other ancillary tweaks I have done in the past so you can see how much of an effect they had. All I would say is they were a positive effect.
So here they come in terms of effectiveness in the weird world of hifi tweaks.:) I am not including equipment in this list.
Valves
Isolation gizmos and platforms
IC Cables
Valve rings
Mains cables
Unswitched silver plated sockets
Fuses
That's quite a substantial upgrade for very little money James . Do you have a link to the ones you bought please .
Here you go mate, not cheap but worth it. I am that impressed I am ordering more.:)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-DAMPE...-/252090224520
the 396a is a mm wider over the ecc83, so are the rings pliant enough to stretch?
......depends on how big the willie is that you are waving :eyebrows:
Sorry couldn't resist, not that there is any of this on here :)
The effects of the tube rings on the Croft 25R performance were not subtle. I noticed that, with the rings applied: bass was tighter, cleaner, and more dynamic. Transient attacks were more coherent and high frequencies were more crisp and extended, but without a trace of hardness.
There was also improvement in the reproduction of low-level dynamics and tonality in vocals with a fuller 3D image. Some of the midrange muddiness disappeared and there was general cleaning up of detail and imaging.
Some valves are a lot more microphonic than others, and so would benefit from damping.
Try the finger-ping test! (If you dare. :lol:)
When I had a couple of DHT preamps that were quite microphonic I used Herbie's tianium tube dampers, they worked very well in reducing the feedback noise.
When I had an EAR V20 I was recommended to put a couple of little rubber tubes on each on (23 tubes each side) to tighten things up and I think that made a difference.
Never felt the need to use them otherwise. I still have a bunch in the bits box (Herbies are quite expensive by the time you get them over here) I should flog them off at some stage.
The Herbies are well thought of on the other side of the pond. The rubber type tube rings I am using seem to be high quality and I am very happy with the improvements they have made. Microphonic valves can mix in quite a lot of rubbish in a feedback loop and anything to prevent this is surely a good thing unless you like a bit of valve rattle!:)
I am quite happy to say if something works or not in my system and I have another pair of ears sitting next to me to confer with. A lot of stuff has either made my system sound worse or simply done nothing (Oak cones for instance). I am a great believer in Isolating components from vibration and have been surprised at the difference applying various methods has done. I have never tried tube vibration damping rings so it was just a punt which happily has worked out for the better.
I must now consider getting those transformers out of my preamp.:lol:
[QUOTE=JI must now consider getting those transformers out of my preamp.:lol:[/QUOTE]
:callme:
Jimbo, I'm with you on this one.
The Golden Dragon Rings made a very noticeable improvement on both my amp and phonostage 12AX7s.
I'd like to try some on my 6NS7s as well but not at full price.
They turn up quite regularly on the bay for half price used.
Yes, loving it!
Great sound and easy set to use.
I'm probably at the year stage now so need to lube the bearing.
I have no idea how to do it on the VPI so will have to google.
I'm running it with a Quintet Bronze via an AT630 SUT and into a tubed phono. Sound really dynamic and detailed.
Thanks for the headsup on this one!
Listening to the system tonight I have noticed a greater clarity to a lot of the recordings and better separation on information so vocals are now that much clearer. I can hear what the lyrics are without struggling.
The only change in my system - Tube vibration rings!
Got a couple on my dac valve
There was a downside to the increased clarity - bloody clicks and pops sounded louder and more noticeable!
Yes Oli, I recon tube rings are witchcraft, like cables and fuses and....:):lol:
No, but they are even clearer now. Sometimes they could be obscured a little in the mix as it were but last night I noticed lyrics were easily intelligible. It's interesting that changing even small things in your system can have unknown consequences. Every piece of equipment no matter how big or small somehow manages to change your perception of what you hear, they draw your attention to different aspects in the music.
I might just add the noise floor was very low last night for some reason and ambient temperature in my room was perfect so these factors could also effect how my system sounded.
Later today it is going to sound dramatically different for sure with a Massive change happening.:eyebrows:
You putting Massive Attack on?
A bit of the Massive never hurt anybody. ;)
The big question is how many rings you have fitted?
Would valve dampers be better?
Like these - http://www.europeanaudioteam.com/en/...er-000012.html