Siemens

Siemens 6189 12AU7 ECC82 Preamp Tubes Matched Pair - Munich 1968/69 - Near NOS

Name: Siemens 6189 12AU7 ECC82 Preamp Tubes Matched Pair - Munich 1968/69 - Near NOS
Brand: Siemens
SKU: 266437960851
Price: 294.0 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Siemens 6189 12AU7 ECC82 Preamp Tubes Matched Pair - Munich 1968/69 - Near NOS

$294.00 USD

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Perfect matched pair of vintage Siemens 6189 Tubes - Munich 1968/69 - One tube w/ Philips SQ label - Near NOS - Very Rare

Product Summary

Known for their superb musicality, ultra low noise and superb performance, 6189 tubes remains among audiophiles' top choices of 12AU7 tubes for serious listening. And this pair is even more special because one of the tubes is labeled Philips SQ 6189 w/ Siemens Munich date code.

Sound Characteristics

The airy and transparent sound produced by these vintage Siemens tubes has been unrivaled even to this day. The magically extended yet never tizzy highs, coupled with the slightly focused upper mid-range, deliver a clear presentation of the entire frequency spectrum, completed by the precise and deep controlled bass. And the most defining sound characteristic of Siemens tubes is their ability to retrieve the deepest levels of detail in sound, and these hidden sonic layers can go a long way to revealing the subtle ambient clues that help complete building a truly 3D holographic presentation.

Professional Sound Evaluation

The pair worked wonderfully and sounded terrific in our professional studio setup for monitoring.

- Input: Cambridge Audio CXC V2 dedicated CD transport + Schiit Audio Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC

- Amplification: Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies (3rd gen) Balanced Headphone Amplifier

- Output: Focal Clear MG Pro open-back headphones

Our full tube sound review was written 100% based on the actual listening experience while this pair of tubes were running in the system described above.

Professional Tube Testing

Both tubes tested Near NOS (90%+ nominal mutual conductance) on a Mercury 2000 tube tester with the following result (mutual conductance both in uMhos and in percentage of nominal):

Tube 1: 3,000/3,050 (100%/102%)

Tube 2: 2,800/2,920 (93%/97%)

Good tubes start at 2,000 and new tubes (incl. NOS/NIB) 3,000, and the Mercury 2000's rated mutual conductance (nominal) for new tubes is 3,000. 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 stronger.

Appearance & cosmetic condition

Besides the world-class sound characteristics, we treasure this pair also for its great cosmetic condition given the tubes' age - over 90% of the paint is still intact on the SQ-labeled tube while the Siemens labeled one also has good amount of paint left , and the three-line etched Munich date codes are perfectly visible:

Tube 1 (Siemens labeled): D0 3# 8D (D0 = ECC82/6189, 3# = 3rd generation of 1960s Munich production, 8 = 1968, D = April)

Tube 2 (SQ labeled): D0 3# 9D (D0 = ECC82/6189, 3# = 3rd generation of 1960s Munich production, 9 = 1969, D = April)

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