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Hi to all,Just got my NOS pair of Philips Miniwatt metal base GZ34's from Micronetics. Nicolas of Micronetics delivers as promised. He's the "real deal".
The tubes look marvelous. They trounced my Mullard GZ34's with 7 serrations big time. The soundstage became deeper and wider. Am now having a hard time getting out of the couch except to change CD's. They really do sound wonderful. Am using them on my Welbourne Laurel IIX 300B amp. Speakers are Lowther DX3's on BFH designed by Ketil Parow.
Follow Ups:
I would like to check these out. Can someone supply the site address for the Micronetics spoken of here?
Thanks!
http://www.micronetics-trading.com
I also purchased these tubes from Micronetics. I purchased more than a pair. Four of them have what I consider a 'thin' ( sparsely applied ) getter coating ( the silver flashing ) at the top of the tube. You can see the filaments glowing through this, and it looks 'burnt' around the edges. I accept some pre run in testing from Phillips, but compared to the other tubes I recieved ( I bought 10 ), these four look like they got the short end of the production 'stick' when it came time to spray the getter material in the top of the tube, OR, it has flaked off in places ( a more seriuos condition I would think ). When the tubes are plugged in and the filaments are lit, it looks as if there are dozens of pinholes in the getter, and the filaments can be viewed glowing brightly. Not a nice, consistent and shiny getter, but burnt looking with definite pinholes in it.
The other six are perfect in comparison - a thick getter coating with no pinholes, and not burnt looking.
So, in comparison to some Mullards I have, the Mullards ( I have 8, various production dates, some new, some used ) all have thick, shiny getter coatings with no pin holes.
I do have one other older Phillips GZ34, that has got to be 45 years old, and well used by the looks of it ( a freind told me it came out of old test equipment that was used regularly ) exibits the same pinhole, burnt looking and sparse getter. It still works good.
So, I have not contacted Micronetics over these tubes since they test as good as the others, and the sound, if there is a difference, is not noticeable to my ears. I don't intend on sending them back, or even questioning the seller, since I firmly beleive in the ethics of the seller ( looking at back posts on this forum about Micronetics is shocking - so much mistrust ), and that these are indeed 100% NOS.
I have only decided to post my findings to indicate that whenever you are buying anything that is/was mass produced, there can definitely be variations in batch runs on the old assembly line.
I would like to hear from others who bought these tubes, and other tubes from other sourvces, to see if they find the same variations in getter coatings ( or crooked plates, or ? ). Perhaps this can help dispell some of the myths over the absolute superiority of one brand ( telefunken? ) over another brand ( GE? ).
Thanks for listening, and Micronetics is an honest vendor offering good service and reliability in my experience. Nice guy to talk to as well.
Cheers
I have two metal base of the earlier version/production and some from
Nicolas. They are all genuine and sound better in my Welborne Laurels
than any other rectifier GZ variant I have tried.
And the getter coating? Consistent or full of pinholes?
I have 2 Holland metal GZ34's (not from Micronetics) that are the first version. They have the pin holes in the getter as you describe.
They sound wonderful. Maybe the pinholes let more music out? VBG!
I have seen them both ways and am not sure if it makes any difference.
Read that that may have ocurred when the tube was tested/burned in at the factory.
These tubes have been for sale on eBay at a but-it-now price of $192 per pair. I just checked and didn't see any current auctions, but the seller, Nicholas, has posted as "Micron" in this forum. A link to an auction that closed with no bids is below, with photos of the tubes. Nicholas appears to have a good supply of them.
I received my pair of Philips Holland GZ34 metal base tubes from Micronetics a few weeks ago & second the favorable comments. I hesitated to post a "review" because these are the first GZ34's I've tried in my amp, having used (Mullard) GZ37's up to this point, but to me there's no question that the metal base GZ34's from Micronetics are very nice tubes.
I agree, once you put 'em in you don't want to pull 'em out. Date codes be damned, they are the real deal. All the metals I have look just like them.
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