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Valvo

2x Valvo 12AX7 ECC83 w/ 30° Getter in Orig. Boxes - Hamburg 1959 I60 - Same code

2x Valvo 12AX7 ECC83 w/ 30° Getter in Orig. Boxes - Hamburg 1959 I60 - Same code

$387.50 USD
$387.50 USD
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Product Summary

Compared to their 45° angled big brother, these "ultra clarity" tubes are much more merciful at lossy digital sound sources such as high-definition streaming video/audio. Yet distortion in lossy sound during playback can still be heard. Dedicated CD transport or lossless playback on PC/Mac (not on mobile devices) are recommended if you want to fully unleash these tubes' amazing power in your system. Phono, if available, is highly recommended to be used as sound source because analog input is lossless by definition.

Sound Qualities 

To get everyone on the same page, we will be comparing these to the Hamburg-made Valvo ECC82's with the regular getter support only, which is already an excellent choice for audiophiles looking for distinctive German tube sound: the grip is tighter with a great deal of substance added to the overall sound presentation, especially to the midrange, which feels much warmer and more intimate; the 30° getter support seems to have "bent" the sound stage into a flattened panoramic view, which is still holographic but is much wider and holds so much more information about your sound: everything can be heard (or rather "seen"), whether you knew it existed before or not, or whether you think it should exist or not; the naturalness of sound is not heard on any other tubes in the sense that these tubes tell you what IS and what IS NOT in your sound, e.g. you can tell the differences between the sound of natural rain in some movies and the sound of fake rain (water poured from hoses above the stage) in other movies; the clarity of sound is "clinical" - as in how your doctor would say you are either sick or not sick and absolutely no muddiness or ambiguity in between should be allowed - perhaps that's why they can get punishing (luckily not as much as the 45° angled version) to lossy digital sound sources; the musicality is unequalled as by now the only thing left in your music for you to hear is EVERYTHING in your music as long as the sound source is right. 

Appearance & cosmetic condition

Both tubes have nearly 100% of the paint and lettering remaining, and the identical Blackburn date codes are perfectly visible: 

I60 D9I (I60 = ECC83 short plate production gen #0, D = Hamburg, 9 = 1959, I = September)

Professional Tube Testing 

NO shorts, leakage or gas. NO noise or microphonics.

One tube tested NOS (100%+ nominal mutual conductance value) and the other one Near NOS (90%+ nominal mutual conductance value) on a reliable and recently calibrated Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following results (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):

Tube 1: 1,050/1,150 (105%/115%)
Tube 2: 950/980 (95%/98%)

Good tubes start at 700 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 1,000, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 1,000. Test result can also be seen in the pictures. In case you wonder what all these numbers mean to your sound experience, it's actually quite straightforward: mutual conductance directly translates to a tube's ability to amplify sound, so the higher these numbers the stronger. 

Packaging

This pair of tubes will be packaged in the ORIGINAL Valvo ECC83 tube boxes, secured by a handmade paper ribbon (by courtesy of Soundlumia.)
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