[whirlwind]

My wife got me a 4TB external hard drive so I can back up the 2700 digital albums that I have on my PC hard drives.

I can't stop listening to music long enough to even open the box and format the hard drive

 

[gibosi]

Happy New Year!

And now a tale of two Telefunkens

On the left, an AZ12 manufctured in Berlin, Jan 1942, and on the right, a WE56 manufactured in Milan, Italy, Nov 1942.



The WE56 is electrically identical to the AZ12. The only real difference is the base. The WE56 has the European side-contact base and the AZ12 has the German Steel Y8A base. And I wonder if perhaps the German Steel Y8A base was the default in pre-war Germany and the European side-contact base was the default in Italy?

I was also curious to discover if the WE56 was actually manufactured in Milan, or if it was assembled and evacuated in Berlin and shipped to Milan where it was simply fitted with a side-contact base and labeled. Now that I have one in hand, compared to a Berlin-made Telefunken AZ12 manufactured at about the same time, the plates, filaments, mica supports, getter holder and glass press all show the effects of different tooling, and I am inclined to believe that the WE56 was actually manufactured in Milan from locally sourced components.

Considering that these two rectifiers were manufactured in different factories located in different countries, of course, I was curious to compare their sound. But after spending about an hour listening to both of these rectifiers, I am not able to discern any significant sonic differences. And to my mind this suggests that even though these two factories were located about 1000 km apart, Telefunken command and control was very strong. After all, Telefunken personnel designed, fabricated, installed and operated these assembly lines in parallel, and as a result, in terms of sonics, these rectifiers are indistinguishable.

Given that Telefunken WE56 are not all that common, I suggest that for those interested in 4-volt rectifiers, Telefunken AZ12 are much easier to find and can often be picked up relatively inexpensively.

Further, for those with the GEL3N, Whirlwind tells me that the Telefunken AZ12 complements these tubes wonderfully. And in my own experience, in a GOTL, the Telefunken AZ12 and embossed Lorenz C3g are a match made in heaven.

 

[jekjek]

Thanks guys
I will order some tubes from him

 

[mordy]

New speaker amp with cheap tubes would be awesome. I hope it will be able to drive KEF LS50's.

Hi Lukeap69,

KEF LS50? How about ELAC B6 speakers? According to some reviews just as good or better, for a fraction of the price ~ around $200/pair on sale.

 

[mordy]

The 6H13C if a good tube for the price espically if you are going to use 4 of them.
Many people don't like them I feel due to there low price no bragging rights.
Would never use a GEC6AS7 no matter how good it supposedly sounds.
I hate expensive tubes for myself as soon as I can I will be building new speaker amps and get rid of the 300Bs.
The 300B are ridiculously expensive and most are unreliable.

Hi 2359glenn,

I was thrilled to see your comment about expensive tubes, and I couldn't agree with you more. There is definitively such a sentiment out there that if it is really cheap, it cannot be good....
I came across a bargain driver tube, the Foton 6N8S, which can be found for $3 shipped. There are different version from different years at different price points, but none that are expensive. At the moment my favorite drivers are the 1953 Foton 6N8S with ribbed anodes which cost me less than $10 shipped.
I'd love to hear from others who have tried this tube, but "if it is really cheap, it cannot be good...."- no takers that I know of so far....

 

[lukeap69]

Hi Lukeap69,

KEF LS50? How about ELAC B6 speakers? According to some reviews just as good or better, for a fraction of the price ~ around $200/pair on sale.

Hi Mordy

I already have a pair of LS50 and have no plan of replacing them. Thanks.

 

[UntilThen]

For my ZMF Omni, I would use 6336, 5998, or four Chatham 6AS7.

Four 6AS7 tubes just seem over kill for high impedance cans.

I'm listening with four 6as7 now with Atticus. Or rather 2 x Svetlana 6h13c and 2 x Rca 6as7g. It's magnificently full 'body'. Audeze LCD-2f sounds just as gorgeous on this setup. Now it's harder to decide which 2 of my headphones to get rid of. I think I will keep it all.

Volume is at 1pm for this magnificently gorgeous full body tone.

 

[UntilThen]

The 6H13C if a good tube for the price espically if you are going to use 4 of them.
Many people don't like them I feel due to there low price no bragging rights.
Would never use a GEC6AS7 no matter how good it supposedly sounds.
I hate expensive tubes for myself as soon as I can I will be building new speaker amps and get rid of the 300Bs.
The 300B are ridiculously expensive and most are unreliable.

I'll be buying another quad 6H13C. Or maybe it's the combination of the Svetlana 6h13c and Rca 6as7g that is titillating my senses.

I'll be keeping the GEC 6as7g for the next chapter of Star Wars - The Last 6as7.

 

[UntilThen]

Thanks guys
I will order some tubes from him

I buy all my EL3Ns from Peter of http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/. Just wrote to him recently and he told me he still have lots of NOS NIB Philips Miniwatt EL3Ns in original boxes. His prices are 20.65 euro ex VAT and 25 euro incl VAT.

 

[mordy]

Hi Mordy

I already have a pair of LS50 and have no plan of replacing them. Thanks.

Hi l69,

From all I have read the LS50 are wonderful speakers that even experienced reviewers can stay with forever. I did not imply anything about changing speakers - the Elac is not better, just similar. My only point is that sometimes there are excellent alternatives at a reasonable price.
I had my eyes on the LS50 for a long time but was lucky to find this alternative that I enjoy every day.

The main thing is to enjoy the music.

 

[UntilThen]

The 80 globe is a fantastic tube..it is one of those tubes that you just feel gets out of the way and lets the other tubes and the music do their thing.

The warmness of this amp will just melt your heart...I describe it as warm and dynamic and warm in a very special way.

Joe thanks for 2 really nice photos of GEL3N. I can relate to your descriptions of the EL3N tone because I spend considerable time with the EL3N tubes. I love it.

Where can I buy a 80 globe? It's beautiful.

Oh don't worry. Just saw lots on ebay.

 

[whirlwind]

Joe thanks for 2 really nice photos of GEL3N. I can relate to your descriptions of the EL3N tone because I spend considerable time with the EL3N tubes. I love it.

Where can I buy a 80 globe? It's beautiful.

Oh don't worry. Just saw lots on ebay.

Yes, they are sort of at the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the C3g tubes...still very dynamic, but a much warmer tone, a touch holographic and just a bit of bloom, but in a good way.

Santa sent me my 80 globe, but yes e-bay should have some listed.

 

[Mfalcon]

Hi Mordy

I already have a pair of LS50 and have no plan of replacing them. Thanks.

These LS50s are some of the best speakers I’ve heard less than 1k$ and frankly as good as most small speakers at any price but I don’t think they would work with SETs. They probably need more than 20 watts at least.
Fantastic speakers for there size no doubt though.

 

[jelt2359]

I'll be buying another quad 6H13C. Or maybe it's the combination of the Svetlana 6h13c and Rca 6as7g that is titillating my senses.

I'll be keeping the GEC 6as7g for the next chapter of Star Wars - The Last 6as7.

How do you combine the svet and the rca?

 

[UntilThen]

How do you combine the svet and the rca?

RCA on the last row. Svet on the 2nd row.