Real Novar sockets

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Problem is that Chinese sources seem to confuse the two (which Magnoval vs. Novar) and NOS Novars have comcpletely dried up. I hope I’’m wrong.

Why the question? There are so many GREAT TV tubes out there, waiting to be used in great audio amps, that NEED the Novar (not Magnoval) sockets.
 
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Meanwhile, I have checked my personal stash of Soviet Magnoval sockets, and found that some good Soviet Magnoval sockets “MAY” grip the pins of a Western NOVAR tube properly, but, there is no guaruantee. Please be aware that the said Soviet Magnoval sockets are NOT sprecified to grip those thinner pins of the subject Novar tubes.
 
I bought the right size female pins and plan to sink them into wood to get a decent socket. I will probably allow the pins to be about 3mm above the wooden surface and have a silicone ring blocking the pins.

I have a few 6GF7 tubes that I want to use as a small push-pull el-cheapo style amp.
The last pair of appropriate Novar sockets were bought from a store in town that no longer exists.
 
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These sockets look like Russian Magnoval sockets that I have. If that is what they are (i.e. magnoval, not novar) then the grip of the tube pins are a bit loose, I have tried them. These are very good magnoval sockets, but I would rather try to get real novar sockers.
 
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I bought the right size female pins and plan to sink them into wood to get a decent socket. I will probably allow the pins to be about 3mm above the wooden surface and have a silicone ring blocking the pins.

I have a few 6GF7 tubes that I want to use as a small push-pull el-cheapo style amp.

Hope this works out well! Have you done this before with the femaie socket pins sunk in wood? I wonder how the heat build-up will do with a wood base.
 
B9D ?-- I have quite a few of them --ceramic widely used in UK CRT TV,s.



Matter of fact I converted one using a IO8 base and copper solid core ( heavy ) to make a converter for my AVO VCM MK4 .
PL500-PL509-line output /field output +PY500-efficiency diode --Mullard termed them magnoval and B9A as NOVAL as did Mazda UK and other UK tube/valve manufacturers , the probable reason for the "mag " part was they were much larger and not to be confused with a standard B9A base .


What they were called in the USA is another matter as the UK and USA didnt hold to the same standard designation system .


Mullard quotes --and I have their manuals --"all new Mullard valves are registered internationally with Pro-Electron ---etc " --Thorn-EMI ( owners of Mazda valves quote the same.


Take note there is a Novar B9E base also .


This is all printed in all the UK valve manufacturers data books in the later 60,s as new bases had to be available for color TV,s large tubes requiring heavy current to run the associated valves to display the picture.
 
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Thanks for your overview of the B9D base, etc.

The B9E base - TekWiki has the following: “The 9-pin B9D (Magnoval) tube base (IEC 67-I-36a) is a larger variant of the B9A (Noval) miniature 9-pin base developed for higher-powered European tubes such as the 8608/EL5070, 8233/E55L, PL509/PL519 TV sweep tubes, etc.

It has nine pins with 1.27 mm (0.046") diameter in a 17.45 mm (0.687") pin circle diameter arc.

The similar B9E (Novar) base used by comparable American tubes has the same pin circle geometry but the tube pins have a diameter of only 1.02 mm (0.038"). Inserting Magnoval tubes into Novar sockets by force will widen the latter's contacts, thereby damaging the socket.

Moreover, many Novar tubes have a glass nipple at bottom of tube which requires a center hole in the socket.”

As the thread says: Where does one buy real Novar sockets these days?
 
Attached picture shows on the left a NOS ‘CINCH U.S.A.’ 9 Pin Novar. In the center is a new ceramic reproduction I purchased from ESRC. On the right is a 6KY8 that fits equally as snug in both sockets.

Sadly ESRC is no more, but someone is making those Novar reproduction sockets. May I suggest you contact VacuumTubes.Net. I’ve found them to be very helpful and friendly.
 

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Duncan2,
Many thanks for your help. I checked Yamamoto’s website and they list a Magnoval, but no Novar socket! Go figure.

Fusor,
Thanks for the news that someone(s) in China is actually making a snug fitting Novar socket. That is what I had expected to find, but so far have not tracked a source down that seemed to sell a real Novar socket.

I will keep looking for Novar sockets for future use, but my immediate need had been met - I found a baggie in my storage room with several of those Cinch Novar sockets that you have in your photo.

For information, I tried a 7868 in one of the ceramic Russian Magnoval sockets, such as Tube Socket, Novar :: 9-pin Noval Sockets :: Sockets - Tubes :: Interconnects :: Electronic Parts :: Banzai Music GmbH

IMHO it is too loose a fit to rely on. Of course I have not tried the actual sockets Banzai sells, but they look exactly like my Magnoval sockets. So, it would be interesting to hear from users who successfully used those sockets with B9E Novar base tubes.
 
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I thought you knew Francois --the big difference between Magnoval and Novar isn't the pin spacings but the different takes on the HOLE diameters .


The UK Magnoval B9D base was originally classed as a "miscellaneous " base in other words when it was designed there wasn't a particular tube to use it with but with the rise in the 60,s in the UK of more modern CRT TV,s the old IO8 tubes previously used were unsustainable and more modern all glass varieties like the PL 500 range were introduced which made use of the B9D base .


In the USA while nearly the same design was used BUT the big -big difference was that the USA Novar base HOLES were narrower as the USA tubes had narrower pins .


Therefore under NO circumstances push a UK Magnoval tube into a USA Novar base --you can force it in BUT thats your Novar base ruined as the holes will now be too wide a diameter to ever hold a USA Novar tube securely.
 
Sadly ESRC is no more, but someone is making those Novar reproduction sockets. May I suggest you contact VacuumTubes.Net. I’ve found them to be very helpful and friendly.

Last time I bought tubes from the Rogakski’s they didn’t have any of those sockets. Maybe that has changed in that past few months. Next time I place a tube order I’ll ask again. Best I’ve been able to find are the ceramic magnovals from tube depot. They seem to have about as much retention force on Novars as the compactron sockets they sell. Not the tightest fit on the world, but they don’t just fall out either. I’ll be using them to build the amp with these tubes in it the power transformer is ready. I’d be reluctant to use them for anything really high powered - I tend to use only octal types if I’m going to put enough juice through it to burn the place down.
 

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Dale and Roy (vacuumtubes.net). I did get an order out to them today. Plenty of the tubes I was looking for (including the 21LG6’s and both varieties of the small signal tri/pents I was eyeing for a 22 tube preamp), but no dice on Novar sockets. Only 7 12 pin compactron sockets on hand, which I snatched up.