Perfectly balanced vintage Amperex 6189 audio tube - Made in France 1968 - PQ logo - Ultra Rare

Product Summary

This tube is very special for two reasons: 1) Made by Philips-owned Mazda factory (La Radiotechnique) in Suresnes, France (not in Holland like other Valvo ECC82 tubes) and therefore you get the distinct French flavor, a warmer and wider (and surely more romantic) sound with more vocal forwardness than the Heerlen production; 2) Marked 6189 ONLY and without the 12AU7WA (typically found on the military version of 6189) label next to the date code, this is a premium industrial tube, a delicious step-up in the 12AU7 family.

Sound Characteristics

Immediately appealing is the super smooth highs offered by these tubes with lots of open air. The overall tonality of Amperex 6189 tubes is warm, musical and euphonic. And this feature is even more pronounced on the French version with an unmistakable romantic flavor. The midrange displays some secondary octave nuances, which is very unique and can hardly be found even on the super high-end German tubes. Similar to Telefunken ECC802S tubes, the Amperex 6189 tubes can create infinite levels of harmonic depth and a liquid sonic texture without altering the musicality of the sound. The bass on these is the clear winner of the Philips tubes family: articulate, accurate, deep, textured, full-bodied and powerful. The sound stage is wide, deep and well structured. 

The richness of the music reproduced by these tubes surpass any other previous attempts of the other 6189 tubes. These are extremely low noise tubes, very neutral with pin-point tonal accuracy, providing an outstanding balanced and uncolored sonic tapestry that will put your mind in a whole new dimension.

Professional Sound Evaluation

The tube 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: Handcrafted Bottlehead Crack Headphone amplifier
 - Output: Neumann NDH 20 Closed Back Studio Headphones

Our full tube sound review was written 100% based on the actual listening experience while this tube was running in the system described above.

Professional Tube Testing

Both tubes tested Strong NOS (110%+ nominal mutual conductance) and 100% balanced on a reliable and recently calibrated Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):

3,420/3,400 (114%/113%)

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. No short, leakage or gas.

Appearance & Cosmetic condition

Besides the world-class sound characteristics, we still treasure this pair for its near pristine cosmetic condition given the tubes' age - nearly 100% of the paint is still intact, and the French date code etched on glass is perfectly visible: FRS 68133 (FRS = France, 68 = 1968)

Packaging

This pair of tubes will be packaged in the Original Amperex 6189 tube box.

Shipping Policy 

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

 - Same business day handling. Orders placed by 2:00PM US Pacific Time on weekdays are posted on the same day, otherwise the next business day. 

 - Combined shipping available - request invoice for total before making payment or receive shipping credit after order ships. 

 - Customers outside the US please pay extra attention: International shipping is through USPS Priority International by default for this item. It's the most economical shipping service with guaranteed delivery worldwide. If you prefer to use a different carrier or shipping service please contact us first so we can get you the correct shipping rates before you make payment.

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.