As with any German tube, you should expect nothing but the best in sound from these bad boys, and you will not be disappointed. The top five sound qualities shared by German tubes are delivered with perfection by these lovely tubes, and especially on an ultra rare pair with the "G.Abl." label:
5) Ultra clarity and layered details (leading brand: Telefunken)
Sound Qualities
Over the years, we have found the bass on Valvo Hamburg even more appealing than on Siemens (allegedly the King of Bass and that's fine) for a very important reason: there's added substance and weight to the lower midrange that makes the bass more pronounced without being overpowering. This special sound characteristic can only be found on Valvo Hamburg tubes. And because of the added substance in sound, the overall tonality of these tubes feels sweet, warm and musical, and the ambient clues sound closer to your ears. One may find Telefunken's midrange thinner compared to Valvo Hamburg as a trade-off of a more enveloping and curvier holographical sound stage...the law of physics applies here as well - the shape of sound can only change in one direction.
Professional Tube Testing
Both tubes tested NOS (100%+ mutual conductance) on a reliable and regularly calibrated Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):
Tube 1: 15,800/16,100 (126%/129%)
Tube 2: 15,800/15,750 (126%/126%)
Good tubes start at 7000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 12,500 - 13,000, and the 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 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 better.
Appearance and cosmetic condition
Both tubes are in excellent cosmetic condition. At leaset 95% of the inscription & lettering are still intact and the identical acid-etched Hamburg date codes are perfectly visible on both tubes.
7L3 D6D3 (7L3 = E88CC production #3, D = Hamburg, 6 = 1966, D = April, 3 = 3rd week of the month)
Packaging
This pair of tubes will be packaged in NEW reproduction Valvo tube boxes, secured by a handmade paper ribbon (by courtesy of Soundlumia.)
Shipping Policy
- US Shipping: Flat-rate USPS Ground Advantage
- International Shipping: (Please read carefully) USPS First Class International is used for all countries EXCEPT: Armenia, Chile, China, India, Latvia, Mauritius, Serbia, Slovenia, Tuvalu, and Vietnam. If you prefer to use a different carrier or shipping service, please contact us first so we can establish shipping rates before you make payment. If you are a buyer in one of the excluded countries, you must contact us prior to purchase to arrange shipping(USPS Priority recommended), or we may not be able to fulfill your order using standard shipping due to our concern of undelivered packages or shipping delays in your country.
- Same day shipping: 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.
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" or "just didn't like it" or "changed my
mind."
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 opened several dispute cases to report abusive buyers and eBay has
always ruled in our favor. International buyers who request return or refund
claiming your country's import duties or sales tax/GST/VAT are too high will be
reported to eBay immediately for dishonesty and will be permanently blacklisted
from purchasing from Soundlumia. We are committed to working closely with eBay
to help rid the marketplace of dishonest, unjust, unreasonable, abusive buyers
that are detrimental to the vintage tubes market and the audiophile
community.