Tír Na HiFi

Hi guys

im almost blew up my speakers yesterday with ECC82 tubes i purchased over Ebay (https://www.ebay.ie/itm/4-x-NOS-RFT-ECC ... 2899317050). I installed them into my preamp, and after 2-3min there was a really loud pop sound on one channel (never saw such a huge driver extrusion!), followed by crackling noise.
Luckily i was able to turn power amp off quickly, and speaker isn't damaged. Think new driver for my focal speaker is in ~500€ range:/

The other pair i got, philips 5r4gys works fine

So my question is; how can i test tubes which are not from "good source" like watford valves and similar, but from ebay for example?
Does anybody here have some tester?
Often tube I am looking for (RCA NOS in this example) are available only from those dodgy sellers on ebay.
Or I should just avoid buying in ebay ...

hudo wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 12:09 pm
Often tube I am looking for (RCA NOS in this example) are available only from those dodgy sellers on ebay.
Or I should just avoid buying in ebay ...

If I was going to buy tubes on Ebay (and I wouldn't) it would only be mainstream valves. I just got a quad set of Tung Sol EL34 tubes from http://www.mcshanedesign.net/ for about €130 delivered. He's a very sound guy (actually makes tubes amps) and I trust his tubes to be genuinely matched and tested. He would have a mix of mainstream and "odd" tubes. I first heard of him through Fran.
I've used Watford myself and while they're good I did have tubes from them fail and cause a bit of damage.

Ivor wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 1:23 pm

hudo wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 12:09 pm
Often tube I am looking for (RCA NOS in this example) are available only from those dodgy sellers on ebay.
Or I should just avoid buying in ebay ...

If I was going to buy tubes on Ebay (and I wouldn't) it would only be mainstream valves. I just got a quad set of Tung Sol EL34 tubes from http://www.mcshanedesign.net/ for about €130 delivered. He's a very sound guy (actually makes tubes amps) and I trust his tubes to be genuinely matched and tested. He would have a mix of mainstream and "odd" tubes. I first heard of him through Fran.
I've used Watford myself and while they're good I did have tubes from them fail and cause a bit of damage.

Think you even told about that guy when we met in Munich! Thanks for the link, will check it out.
Definitely will check the seller in the future, if its serious and tests before shipping.
Was just hoping that someone here in Dublin has some kind of tube tester, just to verify and match

hudo wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 3:28 pm
Think you even told about that guy when we met in Munich! Thanks for the link, will check it out.
Definitely will check the seller in the future, if its serious and tests before shipping.
Was just hoping that someone here in Dublin has some kind of tube tester, just to verify and match

I'm afraid I wasn't in Munich! No matter, email Jim, his website is basic and, given he's a "one man" operation not updated very often.

Ivor wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 6:05 pm

hudo wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 3:28 pm
Think you even told about that guy when we met in Munich! Thanks for the link, will check it out.
Definitely will check the seller in the future, if its serious and tests before shipping.
Was just hoping that someone here in Dublin has some kind of tube tester, just to verify and match

I'm afraid I wasn't in Munich! No matter, email Jim, his website is basic and, given he's a "one man" operation not updated very often.

haha, that was Fran in Munich if i remember correctly:) sorry for confusion
Yes web site matches perfectly to NOS he's selling, like its made in '90 (probably is). You just can't have a modern website selling old tubes!

hudo wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 10:44 am

Ivor wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 6:05 pm

hudo wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 3:28 pm
Think you even told about that guy when we met in Munich! Thanks for the link, will check it out.
Definitely will check the seller in the future, if its serious and tests before shipping.
Was just hoping that someone here in Dublin has some kind of tube tester, just to verify and match

I'm afraid I wasn't in Munich! No matter, email Jim, his website is basic and, given he's a "one man" operation not updated very often.

haha, that was Fran in Munich if i remember correctly:) sorry for confusion
Yes web site matches perfectly to NOS he's selling, like its made in '90 (probably is). You just can't have a modern website selling old tubes!

Excellent.

I don't know anybody in Ireland with a tube tester - although there might well be someone out there.

Yeah, it was me singing Jim's praises - saves you money in the long run although the shipping from the US is a bit of a pain.

I hate to say this to you but it might be wise to double check nothing is damaged in the preamp. Maybe start up with a junk pair of speakers?

Some reviews of valve testers from tnt-audio.com

https://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/ ... _e.html

https://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/ ... r_e.html

A bit expensive unless you are replacing lots of valves regularly. But maybe a few people could get together and buy one between them. [Personally I am not interested since I have a transistor amplifier.]

James

james wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 6:07 pm Some reviews of valve testers from tnt-audio.com

https://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/ ... r_e.html

Thanks James, I have to say they look kinda tempting!

Revisiting old topic...

would this work for ECC82 testing/matching:
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Digital-Tube-Te ... XQdm5Q-Nf-

kinda cheap compared to those vintage testers, so does this thing even works in theory, how does it compare to old testers?
is somebody interested for group purchase maybe, if this thing is legit?