Czarivey,
So sadly true. When I got my current phonostage, a friend gave me pairs of 5751s, Telefunken ECC83s, and Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7s to try out in place of the RCA blackplates that came with the phonostage. I had the tubes in a small box on a shelf. I accidentally knocked the box off the shelf. Although the floor is carpeted some tubes banged against each other and cracked. As it turned out it was one of each type that was destroyed so I had no matching tubes.
In the end, I settled on Telefunken ECC 803S'. I actually found a truly NOS pair that were still in their aging boxes.
So sadly true. When I got my current phonostage, a friend gave me pairs of 5751s, Telefunken ECC83s, and Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7s to try out in place of the RCA blackplates that came with the phonostage. I had the tubes in a small box on a shelf. I accidentally knocked the box off the shelf. Although the floor is carpeted some tubes banged against each other and cracked. As it turned out it was one of each type that was destroyed so I had no matching tubes.
In the end, I settled on Telefunken ECC 803S'. I actually found a truly NOS pair that were still in their aging boxes.