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Originally Posted by jdandy

Charles.......Telefunken, the original German vacuum tube and microphone manufacturer, has nothing to do with the manufacture of the JJ Tubes Black Diamond Telefunken Elektroakustik tubes because Telefunken Germany no longer exists. The Telefunken brand name and diamond logo were licensed for private use in the year 2000 by Toni Roger Fishman. A new company, Telefunken USA, was incorporated in early 2001. In May 2009 Telefunken USA was renamed Telefunken Elektroakustik, gaining exclusive rights to manufacture vacuum tubes bearing the Telefunken Trade Mark and a variety of professional audio products, primarily copies of the famous Telefunken microphones.

The use of the Telefunken and Telefunken Elektroakustik branding is a marketing decision to capitalize on the original Telefunken German company reputation by association. No doubt the Telefunken name is promoted rigorously through every channel possible, one advertisement after another to sell JJ Tubes more expensive vacuum tube line. Calling these tubes Telefunken may make certain buyers feel all warm and fuzzy about their Telefunken purchase, but Telefunken Elektroakustik tubes are not the true German manufactured Telefunken tubes. Calling JJ tubes Telefunken Elektroakustik doesn't make them genuine Telefunken tubes. Thinking they are the same product in anything other than a licensed brand name is completely bogus. That's my point.

Hi,

I don't disagree with your point, actually. I know that the Black Diamonds aren't the original Telefunken tubes (which have white diamonds), and not made in Germany. I suppose it's more that the question is of little import to me ultimately. My first thought was that the Black Diamonds were essentially souped-up JJ tubes, regardless of how much input Telefunken had in their manufacture (hinted at in post #107). However, after your post and a bit of quick reading on my part, the current iteration of Telefunken seems to be about recreating the magic of the original products (microphones especially), as well as introducing new products aiming to live up to the standard set by the original Telefunken. I was unaware initially of this being a new company with the same name; I thought it was a re-structured version of the original.

All that said, despite my earlier complaint about their brightness with the infamous '60s CDs and overall to a lesser extent, I still think the Black Diamonds are pretty good overall. I did like their bottom end. I may even put them back into the 2300 to try them with tone adjustments and different PCs, but not right now.