Telefunken E188CC Sound

Following up on Audiofeil's post, he made a very important point regarding low noise. I went through 6 Siemens early 60s CCa tubes before I found two that were quiet in my system. Quiet CCa tubes are rare, and it's one reason they cost so much (not to mention scarcity of CCa in general, and buyer demand). BTW, the noisy CCa tubes cost $400/pair, too, but for that money, I insisted on having quiet tubes, and I kept returning them to the E-Bay seller until I had two that were quiet.

Tvad your point is well taken. There exists, among many audiophiles, a belief that all Cca tubes are created equal. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Having used Siemens and Telefunkens from different production runs there is no doubt in my mind that Cca guarantees very little. I've heard and used Amperex and Philips 6922 that were far superior to many Cca. My humble advice when buying tubes at the price levels discussed is know your seller. It may cost a few dollars more but also save a lot of headaches. Caveat emptor.

06-11-06: Glory
I have a Audio Note dac with Amperex white label gold pin PQ shield USA.
I just bought the Siemens CCa gray plate that is in the mail.
I am about to pull the trigger on the Telefunken E188CC for $325.00 new in the box and

I can only speak for the sound from my Sonic Frontiers Line one preamp, with that said, I prefer the sound from the early 60s Siemens CCa tubes to the Telefunken E188CC tubes. Imo the CCa just has a better overall musical presentation.

After you have the Siemens CCa broke-in post back with your opinion of the tube. Same if you buy the Telefunken, let us know what you think of the two tubes.
Jim

After you have the Siemens CCa broke-in post back with your opinion of the tube.
Jea48 (Threads | Answers)

Broke-in? If tubes don't sound good after 8 hours of warm-up, then they're the wrong tubes for the application or the listener's preference. We're not talking about capacitors here.

Tvad,

Nice to get a reply from you and others. I have had both exact tubes in preamps (AA M3A) and a CD player (Tjoeb 99). They were nice (not exceptional), and they were not worth this kind of money when compared to other brands (Philips and Amperex) that sounded as good or better in my system. And BTW, stating that 400.00 for a pair of tubes is NOT "black and white" thinking as Glory states; rather, it is thinking influenced by a semblance of economic reasoning. When Wall Street hits 20,000, it will make economic sense to pay this kind of money, but until then . . .