Apos

Apos Ray Vacuum Tube 12AU7

$179.99




Have You Hugged Your Ears Today?

At Apos, we have a deep-rooted passion for the rich, warm sound that only vacuum tubes can produce. To rekindle this love for an authentic and immersive audio experience, we're proud to introduce the Apos Ray Vacuum Tubes. 

The New Standard: Hand-Selected and Rigorously Tested

Unlike most tubes available today that are New Old Stock (NOS), ours are brand new, hand-selected, and rigorously-tested to meet our strict quality standards. By bypassing the unpredictable quality of NOS and instead choosing our freshly minted tubes, we're making the sublime audio experience of vacuum tubes more accessible. 

Sonic Brilliance

With the Apos Ray Vacuum Tubes, your favorite tracks take on a whole new dimension. These tubes deliver sparkly and precise high-end with bass that’s punchy and tight. Hi-hats cut through with clarity, while vocals are soulful, textured, and realistic. With impressive depth and separation, these tubes promise sound that's clear, resolving, and an absolute delight to your ears. 

The Art of Selection

Our vacuum tubes aren't just "off the shelf". Each pair is brand new and carefully selected by our sound engineer for optimal gain, conductance, noise, and microphonics performance. The result? Only about 4% of the tubes we commission for production make the cut. These elite performers guarantee accurate sound staging and channel balance, promising you a listening experience that stands out from the crowd.

Gold Pins: Excellence in Every Detail

The Apos Ray’s gold pins not only add a touch of elegance but also serve a significant purpose. Gold's superior conductivity enhances signal transmission for crystal-clear sound, while its resistance to oxidation ensures long-term performance and durability. These qualities, combined with the secure contact gold provides within the socket, mean your vacuum tubes aren't just top-notch—they're built to last.

Silk-Screen Printed Logos

Even our logos deserve a special mention. Silk-screen-printed onto the tubes, they demonstrate our commitment to superior craftsmanship down to the smallest detail. This time-honored printing technique yields results that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also durable, ensuring the design work remains vibrant and intact over time.

Settling into Your Soundscape

To get the most out of your Apos Ray Tube, we recommend a burn-in time of at least 6 hours. Just plug the tubes in and leave the amplifier on. While there’s no need to play music during burn-in, you can if you’d like to hear for yourself how the tubes change over this remarkable period in their lifecycle. 

Keeping Your Tubes Tip-Top

A little care can go a long way in extending the life of your Apos Ray Tubes. Let them warm up for about 5 minutes before each listening session. When removing the tubes, pull vertically while applying a slight rocking motion back and forth. 

Rest Easy

With our Apos Warranty covering you for three months against manufacturing defects, you can relax knowing that your purchase is protected. 

Product highlights

  • Hand-selected and tested
  • Gold pins for corrosion resistance and excellent conduction
  • A substantial upgrade from standard NOS tubes
  • Low noise and microphonics 
  • Matched pair (2 tubes) or single tube (1 tube)
  • Only 4% of the tubes commissioned for production meet our standards for gain and conductance matching
  • Apos 3 month warranty against manufacturing defects

Specs

  • Tube type: 12AU7/ECC82/6189/CV4003
  • Socket: 9-pin

Compatible Amps

Note: This list is not comprehensive 

What’s included

  • Pair of matched Apos Ray Vacuum Tubes OR Single Apos Ray Vacuum Tube
  • Manual booklet

Help Shape Our Vacuum Tube Legacy

With the launch of our Apos Ray Vacuum Tubes, we embark on an exciting mission to create a comprehensive lineup of tubes that cater to the discerning audiophile. We view this as a collaborative journey with the audiophile community and value your feedback and support to shape our future tube lineup. Let us know what other tubes you'd like us to create.

Explore More

  • What Tube Amps Are Compatible with Apos Ray Tubes?
  • How Do You Maintain Your Vacuum Tubes?
  • What Are Matched Tubes?
  • How Do I Roll the Tubes of My Tube Amp?
  • Why Upgrade Your Tubes?
  • FAQ
  • Featured reviews

    "They add an overall veil of comfy." -Zeos Pantera

    "Resolving...clear-sounding...you can hear more music and less noise...tight...smooth....warm....I do believe these are worth it if you want to improve the sound of your amplifier." -SoundNews

    "A brilliant, brilliant new production tube. I don't have anything negative to say. I can't find any cons or negative with the Apos Ray tubes." -Passion for Sound

    "In one word: coherent...compared to stock tubes they're more clear. They have a more well-defined and solid bass response. The real differences lie in the upper mid-range and treble response. The fidelity of the upper mid-range is actually quite significantly better than that of the stock tubes....the sound-staging width is a lot more substantial." -Joshua Valour

    "These proved to be so good, so resolving, yet never harsh, never annoying...instead they combine really smooth and natural sounds with higher-resolving, really open, really spacious sounds that we expect from great tubes." -iiWi Reviews

    Apos Promise



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