I have to admit a long love affair with the e80cc tube. It’s always been a fave of mine, comfortably outperforming superior 12au7 options in circuits where the extra current draw can be accommodated. One tube dealer describes it as being like a Telefunken ecc802s on steroids and I couldn’t have put it better myself - bigger / bolder / clearer etc.
In essence, not many know about this tube type and, when they do, the knowledge is largely restricted to the two ‘cooking’ versions from Philips Heelen and Tungsram in Budapest. A fair bit of relabelling goes on eg Siemens / Valvo / Mullard, however if it has gold pins then it comes from Philips. The Hungarian Tungsram tends to have rhodium plated pins and holes in the plates. And that is what I have used myself for the past 15 years, with a few examples stashed away.
I recently bought two new pieces of equipment using 12au7 (Lampi Baltic and Riviera AFC headamp) and thought I should dig deeper into the back catalogues for superior examples. Without further ado, from left to right on the photo….
1) Telefunken G73r - a selected ecc802s with rfi absorbing coating
2) Philips SQ e80cc, regular late production
3) Siemens labeled Tungsram e80cc, regular late production
4) Tungsram industrial selected red label e80cc
5) Tungsram 1960 D Foil getter, welded plates e80cc
6) Philips SQ 1955 WK4 D Foil getter, pinched waist, welded plates e80cc
7) Tungsram 1958 nickel smooth plate D foil getter pinched waist
The evaluation will be conducted in the Lampizator Baltic dac using EML 274B / Melz 1578 driven by Taiko’s Extreme and my best cabling options and I have been accompanied by the ever-perceptive @Blue58. Rather than dwell on the minutae between each tube, I’ll summarise the macro observations:
- performance runs from left to right, with big jumps at each end.
- the nickel Tram had an extraordinarily clear and structured presentation, resolution is a country mile ahead of all the others. My biggest dilemma with them is not the high price but the simple fact that they are already very rare but will be almost impossible to replace when they eventually wear out.
- thankfully, the cooking versions (3 & 4) are very satisfying as a daily listen and very cheap / plentiful. Big jump over the G73r
- The wk4 Philips has the most emotional connection and is a lovely listen.
- the Tak274b is too dense and homogenising to easily discern differences; the EML274 was more transparent
- talk of the 12au7 position on Baltic being unimportant is misplaced; significant deltas were observed.
In essence, not many know about this tube type and, when they do, the knowledge is largely restricted to the two ‘cooking’ versions from Philips Heelen and Tungsram in Budapest. A fair bit of relabelling goes on eg Siemens / Valvo / Mullard, however if it has gold pins then it comes from Philips. The Hungarian Tungsram tends to have rhodium plated pins and holes in the plates. And that is what I have used myself for the past 15 years, with a few examples stashed away.
I recently bought two new pieces of equipment using 12au7 (Lampi Baltic and Riviera AFC headamp) and thought I should dig deeper into the back catalogues for superior examples. Without further ado, from left to right on the photo….
1) Telefunken G73r - a selected ecc802s with rfi absorbing coating
2) Philips SQ e80cc, regular late production
3) Siemens labeled Tungsram e80cc, regular late production
4) Tungsram industrial selected red label e80cc
5) Tungsram 1960 D Foil getter, welded plates e80cc
6) Philips SQ 1955 WK4 D Foil getter, pinched waist, welded plates e80cc
7) Tungsram 1958 nickel smooth plate D foil getter pinched waist
The evaluation will be conducted in the Lampizator Baltic dac using EML 274B / Melz 1578 driven by Taiko’s Extreme and my best cabling options and I have been accompanied by the ever-perceptive @Blue58. Rather than dwell on the minutae between each tube, I’ll summarise the macro observations:
- performance runs from left to right, with big jumps at each end.
- the nickel Tram had an extraordinarily clear and structured presentation, resolution is a country mile ahead of all the others. My biggest dilemma with them is not the high price but the simple fact that they are already very rare but will be almost impossible to replace when they eventually wear out.
- thankfully, the cooking versions (3 & 4) are very satisfying as a daily listen and very cheap / plentiful. Big jump over the G73r
- The wk4 Philips has the most emotional connection and is a lovely listen.
- the Tak274b is too dense and homogenising to easily discern differences; the EML274 was more transparent
- talk of the 12au7 position on Baltic being unimportant is misplaced; significant deltas were observed.
