Tube Amp question:TUBE replacements: explain MATCHED?

Y’all are great! Yes, I ordered the plug-ins and accompanying meter from Caryaudio.com  $120.

and I’m hoping there are some reasonable NOS quads for output. I’ll wait til we get past our newest tragedy distraction in our political world, and like toilet paper, supply and demand will settle $  down. 

     I WISH there were yet honest-to-goodness, NOS KT88/6550 valves out there, that could be described as, "reasonable".

     The supplies of Sylvania, GE, Genelex and Tung-Sol output valves, have long been dwindling and the prices (if they can be found): breathtaking.

     Even the authentic (before the St Petersburg plant was destroyed) SED =C= tubes are way up in price, IF/WHEN available (not often).    Funny (to older-than-dirt me, anyway), that tubes made as late as 2012, should be considered, "NOS", BUT: they did come close to the presentation of the afore-mentioned champs.

It is always a good idea to put matched power tubes in your amp or integrated. Do this even if it isnt required. You have a much better chance of similar longevity if you start out with matched tubes. Best to buy power tubes that have been burned in for 25 to 50 hours when possible. This is no guarantee that there tubes will age similarly but it doesnt hurt. Further there is no reason not to buy this way and no good seller will charge significantly more for matched tubes.

@moose89 

just my two cents, but I’d work on getting the EL84s & the 12AX7s real good first (before or even IF you decide to try to find a way to go hog wild on the outputs).

Sounds like you have everything you need to check & adjust your bias, so good for you on that. The only thing that I would have done differently on that is to have bought a versatile multi-meter versus that fancy meter that Cary sells. But you can keep that in mind for next time in case the one from Cary ever breaks.