While I've had some wonderful batches of Telefunken-branded tubes of many types, I think the idea of Telefunken being the "best" needs some qualification. I think this may have some validity when looking at a certain period of production in the mid-20th century Noval preamp tubes . . . the "flat-plate" 12AX7 and 12AU7.
But looking more broadly . . . there was an incredible quantity of high-quality tubes produced in this era in Western Europe, the U.K., and the U.S.. For audio power tubes, transmitting tubes, TV-sweep tubes, RF receiving pentodes, rectifier diodes . . . on out to picture tubes, image orthocons, thyratrons, compactrons, nuvistors . . . on and on and on . . . the "Telefunken" brand was a great one, but it could never be considered the singular champion in a broader sense.
Indeed, these were the glory years of all thermionic devices. Lots of investment (Marshall Plan and Cold War defense), skilled people returning from war needing jobs, and huge technical improvements from wartime R&D budgets. It's not simply a matter of somebody now deciding to copy a single device, the whole industry is a tiny little shadow of what it was in those years.
But looking more broadly . . . there was an incredible quantity of high-quality tubes produced in this era in Western Europe, the U.K., and the U.S.. For audio power tubes, transmitting tubes, TV-sweep tubes, RF receiving pentodes, rectifier diodes . . . on out to picture tubes, image orthocons, thyratrons, compactrons, nuvistors . . . on and on and on . . . the "Telefunken" brand was a great one, but it could never be considered the singular champion in a broader sense.
Indeed, these were the glory years of all thermionic devices. Lots of investment (Marshall Plan and Cold War defense), skilled people returning from war needing jobs, and huge technical improvements from wartime R&D budgets. It's not simply a matter of somebody now deciding to copy a single device, the whole industry is a tiny little shadow of what it was in those years.