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REVIEW: PSVANE 12AU7-T Tubes

Model:	12AU7-T
Category:	Tubes
Suggested Retail Price:	$83
Description:	ECC82 variant / modern
Manufacturer URL:	PSVANE
Model Picture:	View

Review by Audioquest4life on February 20, 2011 at 09:36:52 IP Address: 84.176.225.165

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I purchased a quad of the new PSVANE 12AU7-T for my Octave Jubilee preamplifier and based on my experiences compared with other tubes I have rolled; I am pretty confident that the PSVANE tubes are one of the better new tubes in the market today. The outward appearance of the box and the labeling on the tube sure do add some form of bling factor. The box contains a pair of tubes and data sheets with a matching serial number for each labeled tube. Each data sheet contains the measured plate voltage value, both of mine were tested and are identical: 8.5 ma. I can tell you that after I installed the tubes, I forgot about how the boxes looked like and played around with my system off and on for a few weeks, never to even think about the boxes. Why do I care about boxes? Generally speaking; in marketing the perceived value of a product is always decided by how well it looks in the form of its packaging or outwardly appearance. That is why I hid the boxes and left out the other tubes, some quite good in their own right, to compare to these new PSVANES. I know a bit over the edge, but I do not want to think that these tubes are better because of some nice packaging. We all have something to probably say about that, enough about that already and on to tube speak.

The tubes right out of the box bring so much more separation and depth to my system that I thought I had a new system altogether. The voices are really what grab my attention. Listening to Alan Parson’s Eye in the Sky LP, I am surrounded by the richness of the voices and delicate nuances in the music that makes you want to listen for hours. I was using some RFT’s, Siemens and GE-Jan tubes at first, all EC82 types. The Art Pepper LP; So in Love, Acoustech 45RPM pressing sounds so beautiful and the sax sings to you as if Art were playing right in front of you, as should be. I have only about 55 hours on these tubes but I know that as soon as I put them into service that they did an excellent job in helping to lay out the musical playing field. Depth and separation, and the ability to pop out of nowhere all seem like the traits of these tubes on my system. The accuracy and preciseness of the instruments seem to be more developed compared to what I have listened to in the past. What really grabs my attention is that the flow of music is more dynamic yet with a subtle reach into the voices and instruments that make each stand out more in a pleasant manner.

Often you hear where a tube or tubes does a little of this or a little of that, but I am not going to dote on such things, but merely state that the music is more refined with the proper amount of bass, mids and highs that add a tremendous amount of musicality to my system and that across all of the sound spectrum each instrument gets it fair share of emphasis when it’s time comes, be it the bass, the sax or the cymbals. I can listen to music like this all day long. My listening has risen to another notch of musical bliss; pretty much sums up all I need to say. I am pretty sure part of what I am also hearing is also a perceived dynamic swing in the music making all of this seem to me as if I have a new system. There is nothing more that I like than to hear cymbals and drums roll from left to right and hear a musician move on a stage or be able to pick out the musician with so much ease as they play in addition to music seeming more dramatic.

I am fortunate to live only 25 minutes from the place I purchased these from; The Tube Amp Doctor, in Worms, Germany. So, getting tubes to test is pretty fast for me. I have used AEG, RFT and Siemens ECC82’s for comparisons.

If anyone is interested in a new modern ECC82 tube with kick-ass dynamics and a very balanced frequency spectrum with the right amount of emphasis in all of the musical categories, than you should try the 12AU7-T/ECC82 PSVANES. They have not let me down and thus far have exceeded my expectations. Next, I am going to test some 12AX7’s next in my Asthetix IO Signature. More to follow.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

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Product Weakness:	Pricey for a new tube. None otherwise.
Product Strengths:	Excellant dynamics, soundstaging and well balanced frequency spectrum.

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Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier:	Octave MRE 130
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Octave Jubilee
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Transrotor Apollon 80MM 3 motor version
Speakers:	B&W Nautilus 800
Cables/Interconnects:	Audioquest Sky, OEM Neotech with silver WBT's
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, rock, easy listening, classic
Room Size (LxWxH):	27 x 18.5 x 8.5
Room Comments/Treatments:	Echobusters, measured and tuned room with other treatments
Time Period/Length of Audition:	4 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Silent Wire AC Reference
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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