Xraytonyb on youtube has had a bunch of trouble with tube sockets in a scratch build amp he was doing. I noticed all the sockets were cup style ceramic, I could not see what he replaced them with. But I wonder, are fork sockets better than cup? Is Bakelite better than ceramic? He is not in love with ceramic, so I figured I'd ask for opinions and facts, if any.
Barring NOS, Belton. People snub their noses at them because they aren’t gold plated and blessed by Japanese monks but my experience has been that they are superior to most everything else in current production.
There’s also substantially more expensive boutique types I’ve heard good things about, but it’s depreciating returns if you aren’t in it for the bling factor. I believe the brand is Connex.
There’s also substantially more expensive boutique types I’ve heard good things about, but it’s depreciating returns if you aren’t in it for the bling factor. I believe the brand is Connex.
I’ve tried a lot of different sockets and to me the Belton hold up better than even some of the rather expensive “audio grade” fancy gold plated Teflon sockets.... and at $3 or so a socket.
So, style and “special features” insofar as marketing copy seems to be secondary to basic engineering acumen, which Belton apparently has.
For me, if it’s easy to put the first tube in there something is wrong. High quality contact over repeated tube swapping is key.
I’m not saying there aren’t other good options or that there’s no room for improvement. I certainly haven’t tried every socket.
But I think focusing on better tubes or a larger tube stash for close matching is likely a far better use of time, energy and money.
Have to put things in perspective.
So, if I had to make a general blanket recommendation for new production that would be it.
For the cost there’s no sensible reason to purchase Chinese eBay sockets.
You can make absolute garbage out of gold too. Or ceramic. Or Teflon. Or anything.
Likewise, I wouldn’t trust any Chinese socket to actually be made of what they claim to be. Is it REALLY Teflon? REALLY gold, copper, rhodium etc?
I’ve bought sockets claiming to be Teflon that absolutely weren’t, likewise with rca jacks or various other connectors claiming to be gold or silver.
I have a running theory that the vast majority grey market goods coming out of China for the audio market are not made of the materials claimed.
Also, I’m not a huge fan of ceramic tube sockets fwiw, not in theory but in practice they tend to be found on substandard sockets, are brittle / easily cracked and aren’t as uniformly attached as I would like. Seems like a solution in the form of a problem.
And no, there are some with good taste and good playback, although we’re few and far between ;-)
So, style and “special features” insofar as marketing copy seems to be secondary to basic engineering acumen, which Belton apparently has.
For me, if it’s easy to put the first tube in there something is wrong. High quality contact over repeated tube swapping is key.
I’m not saying there aren’t other good options or that there’s no room for improvement. I certainly haven’t tried every socket.
But I think focusing on better tubes or a larger tube stash for close matching is likely a far better use of time, energy and money.
Have to put things in perspective.
So, if I had to make a general blanket recommendation for new production that would be it.
For the cost there’s no sensible reason to purchase Chinese eBay sockets.
You can make absolute garbage out of gold too. Or ceramic. Or Teflon. Or anything.
Likewise, I wouldn’t trust any Chinese socket to actually be made of what they claim to be. Is it REALLY Teflon? REALLY gold, copper, rhodium etc?
I’ve bought sockets claiming to be Teflon that absolutely weren’t, likewise with rca jacks or various other connectors claiming to be gold or silver.
I have a running theory that the vast majority grey market goods coming out of China for the audio market are not made of the materials claimed.
Also, I’m not a huge fan of ceramic tube sockets fwiw, not in theory but in practice they tend to be found on substandard sockets, are brittle / easily cracked and aren’t as uniformly attached as I would like. Seems like a solution in the form of a problem.
And no, there are some with good taste and good playback, although we’re few and far between ;-)
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I bought some Chinese ceramic UX7 sockets a few years ago, when I came to use them I noticed several bits of metal loose in the box. These turned out to be the springs that clamp the pin holder. They had failed, IE snapped in two, just sitting in a box and not in use.
I also bought some Chinese ceramic octal sockets, I noticed that they have a lot less grip on the valve pins than NOS Cinch sockets do, so I bought a load of NOS Cinch sockets, they were cheaper than the new ones, all they needed was a good cleaned of the solder tags with a Dremmel.
Andy.
I also bought some Chinese ceramic octal sockets, I noticed that they have a lot less grip on the valve pins than NOS Cinch sockets do, so I bought a load of NOS Cinch sockets, they were cheaper than the new ones, all they needed was a good cleaned of the solder tags with a Dremmel.
Andy.
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