Perfect matched & balanced pair of vintage Telefunken E88CC/6922 Audio Tubes - Ulm 1963/64 - Red Tip on one Tube - Strong NOS - Ultra Rare

Tubes Summary

Behold the illumination at night, write down how your music sounds the moment these tubes start glowing and keep your notes forever. The finest in the fleet, Telefunken E88CC is unequivocally the supreme commander of the entire E88CC/6922 tubes family. This gorgeous pair is from the early 1960s' Ulm, Germany production - the most sought after Telefunken sound. 

Sound Characteristics

Like any other Telefunken tubes, these E88CC's are very pleasant to listen to: liquid, euphonic, with a slightly warmer midrange than many other German tubes, which makes your sound experience smooth and non-fatiguing, and all that happens on a unbelievably realistic holographic sound stage, where everything feels bigger, wider and taller. Sound texture can be felt through infinite levels of details, laying on top of each other, both in depth and in width. So your quest for superb sound clarity can end right here. Lastly, it never gets old to say that no other brand is even close to these when it comes to low noise - Telefunken tubes are "extremely" quiet just as legend has it.

The cherry on top for this pair: the lovely colored tips (red on the '64 tube and all-black on the '63 tube), a statement of these tubes' proud history of being selected to be used in mission-critical military or medical devices. The sonic differences (for the better) you are getting from these "select" tubes are enhanced clarity/details, incredible high resolution, extra smoothness in sound and ultra low noise. 

Appearance & cosmetic condition

Beside the world-class sound characteristics, we treasure this pair also because of the good cosmetic condition these tubes are in. Although the Ulm factory date code have partially worn off on the red-tipped tube, the key digits to confirm its year of manufacturing is still visible, and the black-tipped tube has perfect date code: 

U???400?I (U = Ulm, Germany, 4 = 1964) 

U41032?3O (U = Ulm, Germany, 3 = 1963) 

And of course the diamond mark on bottom - the symbol of the best sound one can ever find on E88CC's.

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 Super Strong NOS (120%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):

Tube 1 (Red Tipped): 15,900/15,800(127%/126%)

Tube 2 (Black Tipped): 15,100/14,800(121%/119%)

Good tubes start around 7000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 12,500 - 13,000, and 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 would 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. 

Active Burn-in

This pair of tubes comes with 5-hour complimentary burn-in.  

Packaging

This pair of tubes will be packaged in the original Telefunken tube boxes, secured by a hand-made paper ribbon (by courtesy of Soundlumia.)

Shipping Policy 

- Ship worldwide! Flat-rate standard shipping (USPS Ground Advantage) within the US. 

- Same business day handling. Orders are scheduled to ship within 24 - 48 hours of complete payment and in most cases they are posted on the same business day or in the AM the next business day.

- We combine shipping for multiple purchases. Please request invoice for total before making payment or receive shipping credit after order has shipped.

- Customers outside the US please pay extra attention: International shipping is through USPS Ground Advantage International by default. It's the least expensive option and includes $100 insurance but may take longer than other carriers. If you prefer to use a different carrier or add extra insurance to your order please contact us before you buy so we can get you the correct shipping rates. 

Return Policy - Please READ carefully

Returns are acceptable if we made a mistake by delivering you wrong or defective products. Tubes we sell are guaranteed to work because we run professional tests and sound evaluation TWICE: before they are approved for listing AND before we ship them to customers. So the "defective item" case doesn't exist and please do not bother trying - this type of returns will NOT be accepted without proof that tubes are faulty and we will open disputes with eBay. Sound experience is very subjective and we do NOT accept returns because you do not like the tube's sound signature or because you changed your mind about your purchase. Please contact us to work things out before submitting return requests claiming "item is defective" or "item not as described." 

Tube rollers abusing the return system will be reported to eBay immediately and negative feedback will be left to your account - that's guaranteed. We have already reported several abusers and eBay has ruled in our favor the dispute cases. We are more determined than ever to continue working with eBay to help rid of these unprofessional, unjustified, unkind, unfair and unacceptable abuses that are detrimental to the eBay marketplace, the vintage tubes market and the audiophile community.