Telefunken developed, manufactured and distributed vacuum
tubes from 1910 to 1980. During that time Telefunken laid the foundation of tube design and material science for
nearly all other companies to follow; even today the impact is still visible with the few remaining manufactures left.
The picture above shows the milestones of modern tube development
and even most of those tubes are not known to the average tube enthusiast, all those tubes are masterpieces of vacuum
design, all of them were developed and build by the historic Telefunken company.
From the left to the right:
LS50 the grandmother of all modern power tubes, introduced
in 1938 the first 40/50W power pentode, most famous use was inside the V2 rocket as the control device of the directional
flaps. Still made today in Russia and China in slightly modified form.
EL151 short lived 60W pentode that was developed at the end
of the war to replace the LS50, build only in small quantities to 1960.
EL152/FL152 the post war version of the LS50 introduced in
1947.
EL84 the most famous Telefunken developed tube ever, copied
by nearly every tube manufacture in world and is still made today in various forms.
EL156 a simplified version of the EL151, most famous for the
use in the Telefunken V101 poweramp and with 50W plate dissipation the most powerful standard production audio tube ever made. The
last tube type that ran of the production line in Ulm in 1980. Still made in modified form in China.
EL3010 The most advanced power tube ever made, designed to
use with transistor drivers, like most Telefunken tubes original developed as a radio transmitting tube. Due to
the high price it never found the way into audio designs.
YL1350 the last developed tube by Telefunken and
with 70W plate dissipation the most powerful audio tube ever developed. Original designed for Dynacord in Germany, when they
tried to come up with a bassamp to compete against the SVT on the American market. Before the tube went into production the
plug was pulled and only the first 600 pre production tubes were ever made.
