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Reflektor
Reflektor 6N23P = E88CC Silver Shields Matched Pair - 1974 - SWGP - NOS
Reflektor 6N23P = E88CC Silver Shields Matched Pair - 1974 - SWGP - NOS
Regular price
$598.00 USD
Regular price
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$598.00 USD
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Tube Overview
6N23P (Russian name: 6H23) tube is equivalent to European E88CC/6922 tubes. Designed to work in amplifiers and pulse generators, they are guaranteed to deliver high durability (at least 5,000 hours life), reliability and mechanical strength. This pair come with the special OTK purple stamp, a proud statement of the highest standard in testing and the privilege of being selected by the Soviet's State Control Bureau (OTK) for export and government use. These two tubes in particular also have colored tips (red and green), which are a symbol of select tubes for military or medical use. With premium quality in both build and sound, the Reflektor 6N23P's are the top choice among Soviet-made vintage tubes and also a great alternative to the expensive European E88CC's.
Sound Qualities
Like most of the Reflektor tubes (from both the 1960s and the 1970s), the 1972's have beautiful airy highs and sound very natural. They excel in sound detail and clarity, and overall tonality is warm, rich and relaxed. The sound stage produced by these tubes is spacious and holographic, very similar to the German E88CC's. They are very fast tubes, as in solid state fast and precise, but with tube liquidity and warmth. There is an immediacy to the sound, crisp and tonally dense, never etched or brittle. These are among my go-to tubes for late night movies when I switch my entire sound world to the headphone stack because you can listen to the movie sound on them for hours nonstop and don't feel fatigue at all.
Professional Sound Evaluation
The pair worked wonderfully and sounded terrific in our professional studio setup for monitoring.
- Input: Cambridge Audio CXC V2 dedicated CD transport + Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC
- Amplification: Liquid Platinum Tube Amplifier by Alex Cavalli
- Output: Focal Clear MG Pro open-back headphones
Our full tube sound review was written 100% based on the actual listening experience while this pair of tubes were running in the system described above.
Professional Tube Testing
Both tubes tested Strong NOS (110%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance in uMhos):
Tube 1: 11,500/11,900 (92%/95%)
Tube 2: 12,000/11,800 (96%/94%)
Good tubes start at 7000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 12,500 - 13,000, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 12,500. 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 the numbers the stronger. Tubes have no short or gas grid leakage.
Appearance & Cosmetic Condition
Beside the great sound characteristics, we treasure this pair because the pristine condition the two tubes are in - nearly 100% of the paint is intact, and the date codes etched on glass are perfectly visible - well nothing is easier to spot than date codes on Soviet tubes - simply look for the "74" letters on the glass and the Roman numbers before them stand for the months of production.
Packaging
This pair of tubes will be packaged in NEW reproduction Reflektor tube boxes.
