Season's Greetings from Penta Labs

Tubes in Audio Applications

"The simple reason we use valves for the amplifications
circuits in our best products is that intrinsically, valves are the best
device for amplifying analog waveforms. The point of building equipment to reproduce music is just that, to reproduce music, and we shouldn't be hung
up on the active devices, that's very narrow thinking. "

--William Zane Johnson,

founder of Audio Research
credit

Penta enters the 2000s

Big things happened for Penta in the new century. Our office moved to a larger warehouse and testing facility. We also increased our advertising presence for power tubes, as evidenced by the ad below which was published in 2002.

50 Year Celebration

And then the '90s

In the '90s electron tube technology had been around for about 80 years. Supplies of tubes in the states began to dwindle, so Penta began to partner with manufacturers in China, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. We began stocking over 6,000 different types of electron tubes. And of course, created a new catalog for all of those new parts.


In the '90s Penta also developed it's own newsletter. This was the '90s, so everything was distributed in print (remember those days?). Now, you can see those newsletters in digital form on our website at: http://www.pentalabs.com/tube_talk.html

Rocketing into the '80s

During the 80s computers, walkmans, boomboxes, the Delorean, and seat belt usage soared. Penta began to develop new product lines. And of course, for a new decade there was a new catalog.

The 1970s

The 1970s brought the development of the laser and integrated circuit. The first MRI image was published in 1973. The world's first general microproccessor was developed. The Godfather won Best Picture at the Oscars of 1972. And Penta Labs came out with a new catalog cover that fit the times: