August 6, 2012
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Prem. 140 Input Tubes, Pt 4
The fourth installment of input tubes for the Premier 140 covers the following two types:
1. Telefunken ECC88 with small halo getter ring. Presumed 1960s vintage from Berlin plant.
2. Tungsram PCC88 with large halo getter ring. March, 1971 production from Hungary.
Telefunken ECC88 front view Telefunken ECC88 rear view with Berlin plant designation
Telefunken Diamond
Tungsram PCC88 front view Tungsram PCC88 rear view
NB: During the course of reviewing these tubes, there were two changes made to my system. First, the QUAD 989 speakers were moved an additional 8 inches into the listening room and now stand about 37 inches from the front wall when measured to the midpoint of the front-top of the panels. As might be expected this resulted in more sound stage depth appearing to come from behind the speakers. Also, the lateral separation improved with more distinct imaging as well as better extension at both extremes of the frequency range. Second, a Shunyata Taipan Alpha (original model, not the Helix type I have on the Hydra Model-8) is now pulling electrical duty for the conrad-johnson Premier 16LS2 preamplifier. The improvements to the system's overall sound was also not subtle and I'll be reporting on this in a separate review in about a week's time.
For those of you counting, that makes four changes to the system in less than a month's time. The CJD Teflon capacitor upgrade and HiFi-Tuning Gold 38mm Special fuses for the Premier 140, the re-positioning of the QUAD 989s, and the Shunyata Taipan Alpha power cord for the 16LS2.
Type Bass Mids Highs Detail Grain Dynamics Sound Stage Avg. Forward* Warmth* 6922EH 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Amperex Pinched Waist 6922 -1.0 5.0 -2.0 4.0 7.0 0.0 9.0 3.14 -1.0 5.0 GE Grey Glass 6DJ8 -1.5 2.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.0 5.0 1.57 0.0 1.5 Lorenz PCC88 0.0 0.0 1.0 3.0 5.0 1.0 6.0 2.29 -1.0 0.0 Mullard CV2493 (1970 dimple disk) 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 1.0 5.0 2.57 1.0 0.0 Sylvania JAN 7308 2.0 0.0 1.5 1.0 0.0 1.5 3.0 1.29 1.0 0.0 Telefunken ECC88 0.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 1.86 0.0 0.0 Tungsram PCC88 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.50 1.0 0.0 There will be more input tube reviews to follow in the days and weeks ahead.
Comments (2)
Ooo! A Telefunken ECC88 - with the blue box!
Supposedly, the 6DJ8 was not, in the beginning, an audio tube. And now that it is, the old stocks are depleted.
@rpghero27 -
That's right, they were originally designed for use as cascode amplifiers for TV, VHF and UHF tuners. Then the engineers at Tektronix discovered that it was consistent enough for their oscilloscopes and gave excellent pulse fidelity. That's why you'll see some labelled with their name on it or Hewlett Packard. It first appeared in home hi-fi as a front end for tuners.
The Amperex Bugle Boy ECC88s that I reviewed were near-new pulls from a Tektronix o'scope. Kevin Deal at Upscale once said that ECC88s taken from technical equipment didn't sound as good as brand new ones. That may be true but sometimes you need to be opportunistic.