New Arrivals At Apos Audio: Upgrade Your Sound—Ray 12AX7 SELECT and CORE Vacuum Tubes

[Apos Audio]

Hi all,

We are thrilled to share a new Ray Vacuum Tube launch with the community. Just in case your amp has been feeling a bit underwhelmed lately, we've got something to perk it right up. Ray 12AX7 vacuum tubes in both SELECT and CORE styles are now gracing the shelves at Apos. The SELECT tubes aren't just plucked from the line. They're chosen with near-obsessive precision by our actual human engineers. The CORE tubes, with their gold pins and 12-month warranty, are a far cry from the Wild West experience of using NOS tubes.


Key Features

• Hand-selected and tested
• Gold pins for corrosion resistance and excellent conduction
• A substantial upgrade from standard NOS tubes
• Low noise and microphonics
• Matched pair (2 tubes) or single tube (1 tube)
• Only 4% of the tubes commissioned for production meet our standards for gain and conductance matching
• Apos 12-month warranty against manufacturing defects

Here's the link to the Ray Vacuum Tube collection: https://apos.audio/collections/apos-ray-vacuum-tubes

Here's the link to the blog for more info: https://apos.audio/blogs/news/ray-tubes-core-collection-arrives-rolls-out-week

 

[Loftprojection]

You guys rock, thank you for bringing new solutions in the tube market. Tube rolling is fun but can become very expensive and risky when you have to buy from unknown sellers. You could also think about adding select and reserve tube amps to your core amp lineup, that would be awesome!

 

[ThanatosVI]

12 month warranty on a 30$ tube, well that's a first.

I like that the longer warranty isn't limited to the more expensive tubes

 

[tutetibiimperes]

Looks like good quality for a good price with the new line.

Are y’all ever going to release a 6922/6DJ8 tube? I know the 12 volters can be used with an adapter but some designed for a 6 volt heater would be nice.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

If there were sub-miniature twin triodes like the 6021 or 6111 I would definitely buy one. As for the 12AX7, I have to think.

 

[Abdullah Alzahrani]

Great

 

[Colin5619]

Very nice, my preamp takes four of them

 

[tutetibiimperes]

If there were sub-miniature twin triodes like the 6021 or 6111 I would definitely buy one. As for the 12AX7, I have to think.

I’d never heard of those tubes, but after reading this they seem very cool.

It looks like they’re all designed for permanent soldered install applications, sort of like a predecessor to the Korg Nutube.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

I’d never heard of those tubes, but after reading this they seem very cool.

It looks like they’re all designed for permanent soldered install applications, sort of like a predecessor to the Korg Nutube.

They were a continuation of arcon tubes in a more convenient format dictated by the needs of WW2. Developed primarily for military purposes, they were later (in the 50s and 70s) widely used in a variety of electronic devices due to their small size and relatively low heating voltage. Most have 6.3 volts, which is the same as, for example, 6DJ8 or 12AX7 tubes when connected in parallel, although there are tubes with 2.5 and 1.23 V. Then they were supplanted by the development of transistors. Now some devices use these tubes mainly in portable devices. DAC/Amps Oriolus B300S, Phatlab Chimera, ALO CDM, DAPs AK Ultima SP3000T, Cayin N3Ultra are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Instead, for tubes like 12AU7, 12AX7, etc., desktop equipment remains, as they are noticeably larger. Although they generate less heat.
The Korg Nutube was developed much later as a signal (indicator) tube, so its use in audio is an indirect use and this is one of the reasons why it is considered not true tube.

 

[mbrennwa]

Sorry, but... after reading this marketing gibberish I can't help it. I just have to vent this off.

//Rant mode on//

• Hand-selected and tested

Selected by what? Tested for what? Also, hand picking is rather laborious and expensive.

• Gold pins for corrosion resistance and excellent conduction

I hope the pins are not made of gold, because they'd bend and break on the first attempt to insert the tube into a socket. If they are gold plated, that's ok, but not exactly useful in my opinion. Once you insert the pins into the socket, the surfaces of the pins and the socket will be cleaned by the friction.

• A substantial upgrade from standard NOS tubes

Sure, it's good to see that tubes are still being produced today. New tubes are new, old-stock tubes are old. I don't see why one would be better than the other. What "upgrade" are you referring to?

• Low noise and microphonics

This has mostly to do with the mechanical construction of the tube. Did you improve on this compared to other tubes? How?

• Matched pair (2 tubes) or single tube (1 tube)

What about more than just 2 pieces? 10? 100? 1000?
(No I am not interested in buying more tubes, but I don't see the point of selling them just as 1 or 2 pieces like diamonds or ear clips.)

• Only 4% of the tubes commissioned for production meet our standards for gain and conductance matching

Whoa! That sounds like very poor manufacturing!!!

• Apos 12-month warranty against manufacturing defects

Where I live anything I buy comes with a 2 year warranty by default.

//Rant mode off//

 

[ThanatosVI]

What about more than just 2 pieces? 10? 100? 1000?

Why on earth would you need 10 or even 100 MATCHED tubes?

What Kind of amplifier are you using?

 

[h1f1add1cted]

Where I live anything I buy comes with a 2 year warranty by default.

Yes but there is difference between manufacturer's warranty and legal warranty.
For example in my country (Germany) is a legal warranty 2 years by default when you buy a item from a seller, regardless what the manufacturer warranty is set.
The legal warranty is only valid to the seller from which you purchased the item and the manufacturer warranty is applied to manufacturer itself with his own rules (for example offering a longer warranty than the default legal warranty from the seller).
So in this case if the a seller in Germany would offer this tubes, you would get automatically 2 years warranty and the seller would need to replace/repair the item even it gets broken after one year of use.
I don't know about the US legal warranty laws but 1 year is nothing special as you mentioned.

 

[tutetibiimperes]

Why on earth would you need 10 or even 100 MATCHED tubes?

What Kind of amplifier are you using?

Folkvangr uses 10 tubes and you can use all the same type.

I recently bought 10 Western Electric WE396a for mine (plus adapters) and they sound magical with it.

I just needed the preamp tubes closely matched toon and the 8 power tubes just generally in the same ballpark.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Folkvangr uses 10 tubes and you can use all the same type.

I recently bought 10 Western Electric WE396a for mine (plus adapters) and they sound magical with it.

I just needed the preamp tubes closely matched toon and the 8 power tubes just generally in the same ballpark.

Folkvangr doesn't require them to be matched though

Only the 2 driver tubes need to be a matched pair

 

[DavidSerig]

Folkvangr uses 10 tubes and you can use all the same type.

I recently bought 10 Western Electric WE396a for mine (plus adapters) and they sound magical with it.

I just needed the preamp tubes closely matched toon and the 8 power tubes just generally in the same ballpark.

Folkvangr sounds magical with the ten Russian tubes that come with it and each cost less than an adapter.

Though your proposition is tempting, I am keeping my 5670 rolling to my Vali 2++.

Yes but there is difference between manufacturer's warranty and legal warranty.
For example in my country (Germany) is a legal warranty 2 years by default when you buy a item from a seller, regardless what the manufacturer warranty is set.
The legal warranty is only valid to the seller from which you purchased the item and the manufacturer warranty is applied to manufacturer itself with his own rules (for example offering a longer warranty than the default legal warranty from the seller).
So in this case if the a seller in Germany would offer this tubes, you would get automatically 2 years warranty and the seller would need to replace/repair the item even it gets broken after one year of use.

Why is the seller liable for warranty repair and not the manufacturer?

What is the seller's liability? Return for cash? Exchange? Repair?

I don't understand. Are you saying the legal warranty does not require the manufacturer to repair the item unless the manufacturer warranty runs more than 2 years?