Valvo

Valvo ECC82 12AU7 Tubes Matched Pair 45° Getter Siemens Label Hamburg 1961 - NOS

$358.00 USD

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Perfect matched & balanced pair of vintage Valvo ECC82 12AU7 Audio Tubes - 45° Angled Getter Support - Siemens Labeled - Hamburg 1961 - Strong NOS

Tubes Summary

As much as they are known for their super power in revealing details in sound, these tubes can get punishing to lossy digital sound sources such as streaming video (not even 4K!), HD audio streaming, MP3 (not even 320kbps) playback and distortions in sound will be amplified and displayed with no mercy! Dedicated CD transport or lossless play back 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

Under the commanding pose of the 45° angled getter support lies the ultimate clarity of sound: everything can be heard, whether you knew they existed before or not, or whether you think they should exist or not.

To get everyone on the same page, we will be comparing these to the Hamburg-made Valvo ECC82's with regular getter support version only, which is already an excellent choice for audiophiles looking for distinctive German tube sound: the grip is tighter with a ton of weight added to the overall sound presentation, especially to the midrange, which feels much warmer and more intimate; the sound stage is expanded in all three dimensions (wider, taller and deeper) and almost feels like projected from a 45-degree angle somewhere (but that's probably only in your head) as you get to "see" more information from the same angle - the true holographic sound stage presentation; 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 sound of natural rain in some movies from the sound of fake rain (water poured from hoses above movie scenes) in other movies; the clarity of sound is "clinical" - as in how your doctor would say you are either sick or not sick and there's absolutely no muddiness or ambiguity in between and perhaps this is why they can get punishing 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.

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: Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies (3rd gen) Balanced Headphone Amplifier

- 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 testing & sound evaluation

Both tubes tested NOS (100%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a reliable recently calibrated Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following results (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):

Tube 1: 3,000/3,000 (100%/100%)

Tube 2: 3,150/3,120 (105%/104%)

Good tubes start at 2000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 3,000 - 3,100, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 3,000. 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.

Appearance & cosmetic condition

Besides the world-class sound characteristics, we treasure this pair also because the excellent condition of inscriptions on the tubes given its age. The identical 3-letter (1950s) Hamburg date code is 100% visible on both tubes: D1A (D = Hamburg, Germany, 1 = 1961, A = January)

Packaging

This pair of tubes will be packaged in the original Valvo ECC82 tube boxes with identical serial number, secured by a handmade paper ribbon (by courtesy of Soundlumia.)

Shipping Policy

- US Shipping: Flat-rate ($5.50) USPS Ground Advantage for ALL states.

- International Shipping: Flat-rate ($35.00) DHL Express Worldwide for ALL countries.

- Orders ship within 24 - 48 hours