Hey guys
I read some articles about the qualities of Polam and Telam EL84 tubes, being considered by some as the best produced EL84.
The POLAM / Telam is a Polish manufacturer of tubes, part of the Philips group.
During World War II it was occupied by the Nazis and I believe that German technology has been incorporated into the production.
The plant in Warsaw was abandoned due to contamination by mercury.
Then I got some POLAM EL86 to test on a prototype. The construction of this valve is excellent, has thick glass and aligned plates and appearance reminiscent of German Telefunken and RFT tubes.
I biasing these POLAM in single ended classe A and to my surprise, with a 2Kohms output transformer, they played very well.
Well-balanced, fabulous mids, very strong bass and excellent trebles.
This excellent POLAM EL86 plays much better than my Mullards EL84.
Now I want to see if I can some POLAM EL84 to try.
Nice and very recommended tube.
See the abandoned factory of Polam:
Enter & Die: 52 Photos of a Poisonous, Abandoned Factory | Urbanist
Aldovan
I read some articles about the qualities of Polam and Telam EL84 tubes, being considered by some as the best produced EL84.
The POLAM / Telam is a Polish manufacturer of tubes, part of the Philips group.
During World War II it was occupied by the Nazis and I believe that German technology has been incorporated into the production.
The plant in Warsaw was abandoned due to contamination by mercury.
Then I got some POLAM EL86 to test on a prototype. The construction of this valve is excellent, has thick glass and aligned plates and appearance reminiscent of German Telefunken and RFT tubes.
I biasing these POLAM in single ended classe A and to my surprise, with a 2Kohms output transformer, they played very well.
Well-balanced, fabulous mids, very strong bass and excellent trebles.
This excellent POLAM EL86 plays much better than my Mullards EL84.
Now I want to see if I can some POLAM EL84 to try.
Nice and very recommended tube.
See the abandoned factory of Polam:
Enter & Die: 52 Photos of a Poisonous, Abandoned Factory | Urbanist
Aldovan
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The glass is thicker as they are military grade as are the grid supports. I use 6P14P (EL84) and lots of 6n3c-e (6L6GC) from the Svetlana Factory in Russia, they are robust as well.
Mercury arc rectifiers..😕
Yes mercury was used in anything they could get it into..
A sign of the times, I remember in a factory the removal of M rectifiers and the contractors dropped one. At the time all the contractors were sweeping beads of mercury up into dustpans for days. NB no PPE either at that time.
I saw a TV program once that said women used mercury based products to make their skin white..scary isn't it..
Regards
M. Gregg
Yes mercury was used in anything they could get it into..
A sign of the times, I remember in a factory the removal of M rectifiers and the contractors dropped one. At the time all the contractors were sweeping beads of mercury up into dustpans for days. NB no PPE either at that time.
I saw a TV program once that said women used mercury based products to make their skin white..scary isn't it..
Regards
M. Gregg
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I used my Dads old Davenport battery charger. That had a Mercury Vapour rectifier on it. Got very hot and loads of UV light came from it when it was charging flat car batteries!
Yes one of the major hazards UV emission..people think it looks nice..think about it looks nice! However there is no control over the emission..
I will just sit and look at the spooky purple glow...we used to use what looked like welding masks to watch the MAR strike with a sort of dipping electrode.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=d...arc+rectifiers+you+tube&imgrc=YTTrO5dCPlUiGM:
Regards
M. Gregg
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Must be a good place for Halloween parties.
Mercury from fluorescents, rectifiers and old diffusion pumps.
Maybe they made some V regulator tubes too, with Radium paint for strike-over.
RF tubes with BeO insulators. Lead acid batteries, mercury reference batteries. Maybe even some NiCds. Selenium rectifiers. GaAs? Barium getters. Strontium oxide cathodes. Tungsten. Tin-Lead.
Thorium, Asbestos, mica dust...
Is there an employee graveyard on the grounds... Oh, I hear they hire PRK workers cheap for these kind of places now. The workers don't last long enough to get experienced. Lots of flaky tubes now.
Mercury from fluorescents, rectifiers and old diffusion pumps.
Maybe they made some V regulator tubes too, with Radium paint for strike-over.
RF tubes with BeO insulators. Lead acid batteries, mercury reference batteries. Maybe even some NiCds. Selenium rectifiers. GaAs? Barium getters. Strontium oxide cathodes. Tungsten. Tin-Lead.
Thorium, Asbestos, mica dust...
Is there an employee graveyard on the grounds... Oh, I hear they hire PRK workers cheap for these kind of places now. The workers don't last long enough to get experienced. Lots of flaky tubes now.
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Great sound !
Yes, I have a lot of american and european tubes, but the Polam beat all !
Yes, I have a lot of american and european tubes, but the Polam beat all !
i have a box full of PCL86 PCL82 and PCL805 , most of them are POLAM ... time to match them and maybe sell some ?
Also had 8 x EL86 Polam from a local reapair man about 6€ each 😀
Also had 8 x EL86 Polam from a local reapair man about 6€ each 😀
My stash of NOS Telam ECL86 give awsome sound in the Baby Huey amp!
I also have 8 NOS Polam EL84 and I concur on the top notch build quality and sound.
I also have 8 NOS Polam EL84 and I concur on the top notch build quality and sound.
Are you really sure that Polam was still a tube manufacturer after WWII? I only know them as a tube rebrander who stamped their sign on everything they could get.
And, of course, an EL86 ain't no EL84!
And, of course, an EL86 ain't no EL84!
Yes, I am really sure. The factory was here in Warsaw, Zaklady Wytworcze Lamp Elektronowych. A real factory, not a rebrander.
Polam is a Philips group company.
Your quality is superior to Philips Holland and Mullard.
My Polams EL84 beat my Mullards and Tungsram EL84.
TELAM/POLAM EL84
Hi,
I've got Polam/Telam, some old military Russian and other valves. What I can say is: I have replaced RUBY EL84 in my VOX AC4 HW1 for Telam EL84 -this is the different amp. Sounds really great now. No unwanted noise or harsh Hi FQ. These are one of the best valves on the market if you can find one.
Hi,
I've got Polam/Telam, some old military Russian and other valves. What I can say is: I have replaced RUBY EL84 in my VOX AC4 HW1 for Telam EL84 -this is the different amp. Sounds really great now. No unwanted noise or harsh Hi FQ. These are one of the best valves on the market if you can find one.
Kay Pirinha, your info is incorrect. I was having 2 months of practice at school in POLAM's factory. The factory wasn't a tube re-brander however you were close: POLAM made and produced lots of tubes, valves or regular bulbs and re-branded them as OSRAM, PHILIPS...etc sending abroad to the main "manufacturer" which was the company who had ordered these in Polish factory. You'll find lots of stuff thinking: Oh my Gosh, that's the original PHILIPS from 1971.........and you have many chances that it was made in Poland.
Cool..
I found some Polam tubes in Curitiba/Brazil for sale... in 2019 !!!
Aldovam ( return contact - 41 996044557 - Marfu)
Kay Pirinha ( brazilian drink ??? hehehehe)
I found some Polam tubes in Curitiba/Brazil for sale... in 2019 !!!
Aldovam ( return contact - 41 996044557 - Marfu)
Kay Pirinha ( brazilian drink ??? hehehehe)
Seen in a Shindo
Had a peek in a Shindo Aurieges, the original 2 chassis version, a year or so ago. Polam ECL86 were used in the line stage section. Or it might have been PCL86, memory slipping a bit.
Steve
Had a peek in a Shindo Aurieges, the original 2 chassis version, a year or so ago. Polam ECL86 were used in the line stage section. Or it might have been PCL86, memory slipping a bit.
Steve
Heres the Jogis page on the Telam EL84 for reference.
Roehren-Geschichtliches - Die EL84 von Telam, Polen
These EL84 have three slots in the plate on both sides, not entirely unlike the Philips examples i have here.
the slots are however bigger. I think this might either be because the tooling used to align the grids used by polam was bigger, or that the slots meant that the innards of the tube would outgas quicker on the pumps, saving energy in the process.
Im curious as to what factory made the noval bases used in the combloc, these all have copper clad lead in wire. I speculate the difference between western tubes that use a nickel-iron alloy for the top part of the lead in wire, and Comblock types is that the comblock type is a two part tube pin, whereas the western types use a three part pin for the tube pins.
Presumably its easier to spotweld a nickel-iron alloy then it is to spotweld the dumet wire used in Comblock tubes. But this might be splitting hairs as you would have to know production rejection numbers due to loose internal contacts, in order to assign any degree of superiority to the more elaborate western design.
Roehren-Geschichtliches - Die EL84 von Telam, Polen
These EL84 have three slots in the plate on both sides, not entirely unlike the Philips examples i have here.
the slots are however bigger. I think this might either be because the tooling used to align the grids used by polam was bigger, or that the slots meant that the innards of the tube would outgas quicker on the pumps, saving energy in the process.
Im curious as to what factory made the noval bases used in the combloc, these all have copper clad lead in wire. I speculate the difference between western tubes that use a nickel-iron alloy for the top part of the lead in wire, and Comblock types is that the comblock type is a two part tube pin, whereas the western types use a three part pin for the tube pins.
Presumably its easier to spotweld a nickel-iron alloy then it is to spotweld the dumet wire used in Comblock tubes. But this might be splitting hairs as you would have to know production rejection numbers due to loose internal contacts, in order to assign any degree of superiority to the more elaborate western design.