dallas rangemaster, how to bias the oc44

[treblebooster]

Dear friends,
first of all, happy holiday season!

I wrote a pm to RG but I think that some others could have such a trouble with germanium transistors, so I post it here too in order to discuss it all together (RG could reply here instead of my pm).

I recently I had the occasion to get a nos oc44.
Following RG guide here http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/rangemaster/atboost.pdf

I'm able to obtain the right bias (around 7v) in these two ways:
1) pot (or fixed resistor) 10k, Rb1 82k, Re 2k7 (reaching resistors' limits that he suggested, I get 7.05 v)
2) pot (or fixed resistor) near 13k, Rb1 68k, Re 3k9 (keeping original resistors' values and just increasing a little the collector resistor I get 7.00 v)

My question is: which is the more preferable (or theoretically more correct) way of building it? And also: does the choice affect the sound or it doesn't matter at all, since both ways deliver 7v to the collector?

Thanks guys!