I have two of these made at some time for Wehrmacht service, stamped BAL716, the whole nine yards what ever that means. I've been saving them for my 'ultimate' amp because they are so incredibly beautiful. But I see them going for fantasy amounts on ebay. There is one on ebay at the moment for $2150!!!
KL77305 KLANGFILM TUBE Big BLACK MESH RECTIFIER RGN4004 TELEFUNKEN NOS rgn2504 s | eBay
Soooo. I think my ultimate amp can be just fine with a set of 5U4s or the like.
But seriously. Are these really worth such hideous amounts of green? Not that I mind, but I have no intent on ripping off the filthy rich (who else buys $2k tubes?) I dunno, if these are super rare, and ceertainly - they are gorgeous, so perhaps they are worth a **** loads?
Thanks for any comments.
Lastly, is there any point in even trying to sell them here on this forum? Or are these only ebay bait? Not that I am greedy, but I am not about to give them away now that I see they obviously are rare and precious.
Thanks for any inputs.
KL77305 KLANGFILM TUBE Big BLACK MESH RECTIFIER RGN4004 TELEFUNKEN NOS rgn2504 s | eBay
Soooo. I think my ultimate amp can be just fine with a set of 5U4s or the like.
But seriously. Are these really worth such hideous amounts of green? Not that I mind, but I have no intent on ripping off the filthy rich (who else buys $2k tubes?) I dunno, if these are super rare, and ceertainly - they are gorgeous, so perhaps they are worth a **** loads?
Thanks for any comments.
Lastly, is there any point in even trying to sell them here on this forum? Or are these only ebay bait? Not that I am greedy, but I am not about to give them away now that I see they obviously are rare and precious.
Thanks for any inputs.
Attachments
Asking a large amount of money doesn't mean that someone can sell this valves.
Klangfilm has a great name, but that are only TELEFUNKEN with an Klangfilm inprint.
I owned and tested them all (SE Triode RE604, quite near to 45), RGN4004 meshplate is realy a great rectifier valve, but only for collectors worth that amount of money. But I would keep the RGN4004, even in Germany they are rare, didn't see one for about 20 years.
Klangfilm has a great name, but that are only TELEFUNKEN with an Klangfilm inprint.
I owned and tested them all (SE Triode RE604, quite near to 45), RGN4004 meshplate is realy a great rectifier valve, but only for collectors worth that amount of money. But I would keep the RGN4004, even in Germany they are rare, didn't see one for about 20 years.
The "at some time" is week 22, 1943 in nazi Germany, probably in a factory where forced laborers were producing these. My late granddad was such a laborer. He was not very satisfied in which circumstances they were forced to work, to say the least. BAL716 means "Bauaufsicht Luft" so these were tested by the Luftwaffe quality department, probably in Berlin the capital of the reich.
Last edited:
Having watched auction for the past couple RGN4004 mesh tested at high value, they went between 250-400E soo not the cash cow you might think they are.
No, though many here are interested (209 views so far) and willing to pay for the rare item (probably not as many), everybody will be afraid to buy from anybody from nowhere. 😀
Wow. Sorry to hear that. I wonder if the quality and craftmanship was slightly reduced during those years. ? I mean if I was forced to work for someone like that I'd try to sabotage, but perhaps not...Perhaps the quality was even better, since some of the consequences for doing a bad job might be pretty appalling.
Circumstances were terrible like in most forced labour places. Undernourished, overworked, exhausted, constant threat, allied bombings, digging graves ... My granddad and his brother were released when they were no longer useful. His brother died from exhaustion 10 km from home on the train. Strange as it may be, I got the original train tickets (with swastika stamps) from a relative a few years ago.
Last edited:
Yes I realize that. The ones I have are Telefunken with Werhmacht stamped on them. I guess Klangfilm was doing other stuff than producing audio and movie equipment during those years?
I have buy a pair of this rectifiers a year ago from trusted seller over ebay from Germany and I pay 350 euro for a pair.I try this tubes im some tube amps and preamps.They are not bad,but also not perfect,becouse nothing is perfect in hifi world,and if someone truly believe that rectifier can truly have big influence on the sound of the whole tube amp,than there is something wrong with design of this amp.I have try so many diferent tube rectifiers and I can only say that some other parts in a tube amp like output transformers,tubes,capacitors and so on are much more important the some good tube rectifier.So are this worth 2150US???Never!!!This is just my opinion and good luck by selling this.
I agree. I have no intent on selling for 2k. I'll probably try an auction on one of them or something and see how it goes...
Thanks for tip. ebay seems to have a 500dollar limit for noob sellers. What if the auction surpasses that amount?
We will soon find out, I have made a listing of a NIB RGN4004 starting at 1$. I wouldn't mind it going cheap, and 10% goes to charity ;-)
Awesome...good luck
I finally had one on ebay and it ended at $412 plus $50 for shipping.
Seems the Asians are cash king...
For some reason I'd like to see my Telefunken tubes from old go to someone more historically inclined. I need to find a German history club or something like that.
I finally had one on ebay and it ended at $412 plus $50 for shipping.
Seems the Asians are cash king...
For some reason I'd like to see my Telefunken tubes from old go to someone more historically inclined. I need to find a German history club or something like that.
I excluded Asia, South America, Middle East etc..., not so much interested in the money as such. If it can go back to Germany, that would be cool though. The first bidder at 1$ was German so you never know 🙂