Sophia Electric 274B Mesh Plate Tubes
Reviewed by Tone Audio (Issue 2)
Pricing:
- Option 1: $299.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with one year warranty.
- Option 2: $249.99 per Princess 274B mesh plate tube with 30 days warranty.
Feedback from Mr. Fred Volz, Emotive Audio
Your Sophia Electric™ mesh plate 274B is the best rectifier tube I have ever heard including the actual Western Electric 274B. This is quite an accomplishment and you should feel very good about this. I let my Canadian distributor hear it in his Sira and he refused to let me have it back. So, now I have only one left and it must go to a customer soon. So, I will be ordering more. I will also recommend them to anyone who buys one of our preamps.
Fred Volz
Emotive Audio
Sophia Electric™ 274B tube is a premium rectifier tube for 5U4/5R4/5AR4* direct replacement with 3X longer plate structure, thus it has a deeper, wider sound stage and even smoother sound than Mullard 5AR4.
Historically, WE 274B was designed for the WE 300B amp. The price for a used WE 274B is in the range of $2,000 - $4,000 a piece with no warranty. Based on end-users reports, Sophia Electric™ 274B tube outperforms the NOS WE 274B by higher current capability, which translates into better bass, dynamics, and deeper sound stage.
The sonic difference compared to conventional 5U4, 5AR4*, 5R4 is far bigger than any cable upgrades combined in a high-end system.
Sophia Electric 274B is an 8-pin octal-based tube and Sophia Electric 274A is a 4-pin based tube. Our friend Art Audio is using Sophia Electric™ 274B in the Art Audio PX-25 amplifier.
Note(*): 274B is a direct heating tube. The indirect heating 5AR4 may turn on slower; however, people who buy 274B are for its superior sonic performance. To fully utilize its benefits, it may require the first stage capacitor (capacitor input) to be less than 10MFD; otherwise, it would shorten the 274B life span (very much like smoking is bad for your health). It would not be a problem with common choke input. Please consult your amplifier maker or refer to a tube manual. This 274B is an update of the NOS WE 274B, so both share the same characteristics.
The maximum current capability for Sophia Electric 274B mesh plate tube is 90ma, suitable for tube pre-amp and mono-block 45 single ended and 2A3 mono-block single ended.
We would recommend Sophia Electric Aqua 274B rigid plate tube for 300B amplifiers. The maximum current capability for the Aqua 274B tube is 160ma.