May 16, 2013

• Bronze Plate 5687 Comparison

  This review will cover three pairs of bronze plate 5687 tubes that I’ve used in my Modwright/Music Hall CD25 player.

  Let me start out by saying that while I am familiar with various tubes in the 5687/7044/7119 family, my level of exposure is nowhere near the degree to which I’ve used tubes in the 6DJ8/7DJ8/6922/7308 family nor the 6550/KT88 family and their variants.  There is never a guarantee that one person’s experiences, system, and opinions will match up with yours and therefore readers should take any review with a grain of salt.  And in this case, a salt shaker might be more appropriate.

  The Players

  Included in this short survey are the following 5687 tubes:  RCA, Sylvania and Tung-Sol.  All of them are of the so-called bronze plate variety although the construction of each differ.

  CDs Used in Comparison

  American Acoustic, Eric Tingstad & Nancy Rumbel

  Boccherini String Quintets, Ensemble 415

  Body Rhythm, Marion Meadows

  Dream Walk, Keiko Matsui

  Miami Vice, Various

  Narada Collection 3, Various

  Twelve Tribes, Richard Souther

  Vivladi’s Cello, Yo-Yo Ma with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

   

  The reviews are presented in the same order in which the three bronze plate types were auditioned.

   

  Tung-Sol

  One of the pair is a 1960 JTL 5687 (6017, measured 128/125) other vintage is unknown 5687WA (322KW3, measured 108/106), square getter, noticeably bronze plates, double mica.

  Tung-Sol Bronze Plate 5687 Pair                                                              Pair Close-Up
            

  Getter Ring Close-Up                                                                            Plate Close-Up
       

   Listening Impressions:

  • Excellent bass
  • Detail and tonal balance is excellent
  • Very black background
  • Reference level sound stage
  • Excellent to reference level inner detail and dynamics
  • Switch in power cords from BC68 to Venom3 easily told with little less bass, more treble, images less dense, slapped percussion has more of the “skin” sound”, cymbals more prominent but also “whiter”.
  • Sharp but natural transients.
  • Organic and typically musical T-S sound.

   

   

  Sylvania Gold Brand

  Vintage unknown (both are 226 JAF, triple mica, square getter, gold pin).  Plates are not nearly as bronze as the RCA brand.

  Sylvania Gold Brand Bronze Plate 5687 Pair                                              Square Getter Ring
        

  Gold Pins
  
  

  
  Listening Impressions:

  • Bass is tight/taught/articulate and easy to follow with string vibration clearly apparent.
  • Wooden blocks pop rather than thud.
  • Less rich than T-S.
  • Extremely natural sounding piano with plenty of sparkle.
  • Excellent to reference level transients.
  • Sound stage height extends beyond the top of the speakers.
  • Brushed and struck cymbal work is superior to T-S.
  • Decay is reference level.
  • Almost sounds like a 7044 in terms of overall clarity but more refined.
  • Clearly hear the skin and body on drums.
  • Dynamics are excellent to near reference level.
  • The music just seems faster:  excellent PRAT.

   

  RCA

  Vintage unknown, double mica, very small O-ring getter.  Plates are easily seen as bronze.

  
  RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Pair                                                                   RCA Bronze Plate 5687 Close-Up
       

  Very Small O-ring Getter
   

  Listening Impressions:

  • Like the Sylvania, not as rich sounding as the T-S.
  • Equal, or, superior to the T-S in terms of sound stage with pinpoint imaging.
  • Nicely extended treble with reference level quality.
  • Cymbal brushwork perhaps superior to Sylvania.
  • The most dynamic of the three under review.
  • Bass response is articulate but perhaps not quite as forceful as Sylvania.
  • Inner detail is reference level and you can hear the guitar strings bending at times.
  • The overall sound, at times, is almost solid state in character but with the refinement typically associated with tubes.

   

  After listening to these three bronze plate 5687s, I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer their sound qualities over the black plate 5687 variety.  My order of ranking from most liked is the RCA, Sylvania and then Tung-Sol although I could live quite contentedly with any of them.  Highly recommended.

   

  • 11:58 am
  • 2 Comments