Siemens Halske versus Siemens Rohre

Added to that is when I call some reputable dealers they say they have not seen a genuine early cca tube in years and that most everything out there is a fake.
Gammajo (System | Threads | Answers)

That must be Andy Bowman, yes? Gotta love him. He told me the same thing four years ago. Since then, I have purchased several pairs of CCa tubes from various sources...none of them tube dealers. Every tube has been genuine.

Siemens started to box their tubes in Rohre boxes in the mid 70s. The quality started to decline somewhat around that time, especially regarding microphonics. That's why Siemens & Halske boxed tubes are preferable. Better and more consistent quality.

Grant- how can you tell they are genuine? so far I can tell that dull grey getter supports are older than shiny, but what else. is there anything to the story I heard that no genuine CCas were made with gold pins? I have a quad of gold pin, dull gray tubes stamped Siemens CCa. Of course I also have a pair of 308s in a well known tube dealers box that are inked Siemens 7308, but the dull top of tube marking says 7308 made in USA.

Generally, the CCa can be identified by four seams on the bottle top, date code stamping on the riser or on the glass, grey (or shiny) mica supports, thick getter supports (thin wire getter supports are indicative of early 70s production), shallow rather than deep gettering on the bottle, and the Siemens&Halske blue and yellow box.

There are some good photos of Siemens tubes here.

How can you be certain? There are no absolutes. If you install the real deal they will have a sound clearly superior to any other Siemens tubes you will have heard before. Huge soundstage. Complete tonal balance from top to bottom, and highs that are extended right to the edge of being too much of a good thing...without going over the edge. If the difference is not profound, then you may not have the real deal.

I have not owned any CCa tubes without gold pins that I can recall, but I am not absolutely certain of this.

Well, they are all gold pins, some with codes on the support, all with 4 seams on bottle, one in blue/yellow Siemens & Halske box (very clean printing), 5 others in white boxes. Unfortunately, I do not have any gear right now that uses the E88CC/6922 tube.