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What makes Telefunken tubes sound better?

I've reached the point in sampling 12AU7 tubes below $100 per tube where I'm having to buy tube crates to keep the pairs I've sampled. I've tried NOS and new, but out of all I end up back with Telefunkens as having the least distortion and fastest transient response. Yet the Telefunken internals are not the best materials/quality; NOS Mullard CV4003 or the new Gold Lions have higher build quality for materials and precision.

Are there links somewhere that talk to what is different for the internal design/construction of a Telefunken tube? I'd like to support newer tube manufacturers based on educated consumerism, and hope that we can get someone to replace Telefunken at an affordable cost before NOS stock is no longer an option.
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Arbeit macht frei

;-)
tortilladc
121 posts
 
"Funk" is part of the name so naturally they sound good.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Wasn't there a German band the Telefunkadelics?
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,235 posts
 
What do you mean I'm wrong! Mazda, Mullard and others did make tubes every bit as good as Telefunken. It's a fact and you need to get even weller educated to understand.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
I don't know that telefunken tubes are the best or not. Only that I trust the brand and would expect a good product option there whenever needed.

This has nothing to do with how they "sound" or not. Only that I trust the brand to build a high quality product to proer specifications meaning the device will probably work well as designed. It could still sound like crap. How anything sounds, good or bad, is a completely subjective determination made by individuals. I would only assert that by using a quality device, the chances of sounding good to more people is greater than otherwise.
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