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primer on buying vintage tubes?

Dear all-

I recently started to tiptoe into tube rolling--replacing the 6922 stock tubes in my headphone amp etc.

I am curious as to why vintage tubes are often preferred to the new ones? Why would older tubes sound better?

And even more pressing, I'm curious about best practices for buying vintage tubes. I recently came across a pair on ebay that were not labeled NOS but the seller did say the had been measured on a tube tester and had 100% emission. If this a safe bet? Is it better to buy NOS? Is it better yet to deal with a vendor like Upscale Audio?

Thanks for any insights! Margot
mcanaday
mcanaday OP
169 posts
 
Thanks Bbroussard! Very kind of you and I may take you up on your offer! cheers!
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Ebay sells garbage Vintage Tube Services sells the best and Andy is very honest.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,871 posts
 
I talked with Kevin Deal of Upscale Audio at the recent T.H.E. Show in Irvine CA, and found him to be VERY knowledgeable on the subject of tubes. He has an enormous inventory of them, so I would definitely give him a call.
elevick
2,638 posts
 
The good thing about 6922's is that they have really long lives in the scheme of things. Usually 5000 to 10,000 hours. We all have our preferences but most prefer NOS. I agree with the comments about ebay.
Buying from here or audiogon is usually safe. Other good dealer such as upscale are tubesandmore.com and thetubestore.com. Sometimes echohifi has good buys. Some sites are fun to peruse but are way too pricey such as tubeworld.com.
mcanaday OP
169 posts
 
Thanks, guys! And how do you know if you got a bad tube? Is it obvious?

Cheers, Margot
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