Brimar CV4003 / 12AU7 Platinum Grade / No Cryo Reviews

4.9 Rating 147 Reviews

Visit Product Page

Phone:

909.931.9686

Email:

joel.m@upscaleaudio.com

Location:

2058 Wright Avenue,
2058 Wright Avenue
California
91750

Visit Product Page

“The best 12AU7 I have ever used, and I have them all including Telefunken (over rated) a few different types of Mullards, Siemens, Amperex Bugle Boys, I even have some crazy Siemens ECC802S. What I like about this tube is there is nothing to NOT like. It doesn't do anything wrong. It's the most "centered" without coloring the top end to make it too tizzy or too dark. I will also say here that it is VERY quiet. I have four products that use 12AU7's, and one of them is an old pre made by Conrad Johnson, the PV-12A. That preamp is a problem as it has so much gain and tubes are noisy or microphonic. This tube is SCARY quiet. My current reference preamp is the excellent PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium, which has outclassed even my Audio Research REF 5. I put a pair of these in one position, then right to the rear a pair of Cifte's for added detail and to tweek up the highs just a teeny bit. I heard for a first time a Doors song that I know so well only to hear there was a very very quiet overdub of Jim Morrison's voice in the background. All of this due to picking out the quietest preamp and tubes and dropping noise floor lower and lower. What a journey.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Denny Parker, CO

Unverified Reviewer

“Running these in my PL Dialogue Premium HP Integrated with KT120 power tubes. With the extra headroom provided by the KT120's I can run this amp in triode mode most of the time now. In this mode the Brimars impart a very refined and naturally textured sound. Piano has wonderful tones and overtones while sounding full and dynamic up and down the frequency scale, and violins are sweet and shimmering. Vocals take on a very natural quality. Also, they seem to take some of the bite out of ultralinear mode - on some recordings makes it hard to decide my preferred setting. Highly recommended.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago

“I've tried many different 12AU7 NOS tubes and these Brimar 12AU7/CV4003's add textures to my high resolution classical music (especially on string instruments) that I've never hear before. They also seem to smooth out subtle timing queue's making the music more engaging. Great valves. Highly recommended!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 years ago