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I think you should wait and find a nice set in good cosmetic and audio condition. You should be able to find a nice set for $2,200 to $2,800.

Earl, Is the Cary the equipment you wanted the 5814A tubes for? Yes, I was rolling tubes in the preamp a Cary 2002. It sounds nice with a tube amp. I am running it with Quicksilver mid monos and Forte's.

This was for sale on Audiogon a week or so ago and sold

I just bought a Wyetech Ruby. Sounds great.

I have a set of Philips Holland SQ gold pins in my Cary Preamp and they sould quite good as well.

While helping me bias my amps, Craig Ostby got exasperated and told me, "There are just some people who should never touch a screw driver." Guess that leaves me out of the mechanics group.

I have three Tung-Sol KT150's (four if you count the one that is bad) with less than 200 hours. They sell for around $96 on the TubeStore. I will sell all three for $180 shipped. I will even throw in the bad tube at no extra cost. I replaced them with KT88's in my VRD's as I did not need the extra power.

OK...so why are we keeping this secret? Who are you? Speak up!

Two issues. First, I was not setting the meter up correctly, and secondly, I have a bad KT150. At Craig's direction I replaced the KT 150's with a quad of SED C's I had. The VRD's sound much better with the KT88's (even when the K150's were working.

Thought you could slip one by us, huh?

Sorry, Craig. I didn't mean to seem impatient. My bad. I thought perhaps I had set the meter incorrectly or had done something stupid which would have not required your knowledge of the amp. In any event, thank you for responding. I will swap the tubes with the other VRD and follow your advice about the KT88's if the swap fixes the problem

I just re-re-read your OP. So one amp reads correctly on both tubes but the other amp reads zero volts DC on both tubes? I am not sure what you mean by "both tubes." the bias points only measure the amp in its entirety, correct?

Now you tell me...I have it so screwed up I have no idea where it should be. I will not turn it on again, however. There is a lot to be said for solid state. I have a 1975 Pioneer receiver that I bought in college, never had serviced, ran the hell out of, and it still sounds like it did when I bought it. (Pioneer SX550)

The biasing pots are shinny and I took a pin and cleaned them anyway. No change. The 10.6 reading at 200 ohms may tell us something. I have very expensive tubes in there and don't want to burn them out.

I will right now. If the biasing pots were not making contact, why would I get a reading at the 200 ohm setting? Thanks

Before I start let me apologize for my complete lack of technical expertise. I am trying to bias my VRD's. On the right amp, with the Gardner Denver Digital multimeter model GDT-311 set at 20 volts I get a reading of 55, while on the left amp I get a reading of 0.00. When I switch the meter to 200 ohms (on the amp with the 0.00 reading at 20 volts), I get a reading of 10.6. Therefore, I know it is not the pots or the meter that are bad. I have tried to bias the amp with the 0.00 reading and turning the bias screw does nothing. However, both amps sound fine. What is going on? I have also emailed Craig.

First World problems, my young padawan learner. It's very well established that "multi-tasking" is way overrated. It is a very small percentage who can listen to music and study both at the same time. Turn the music off and let that magnificent young mind of yours soak up the information you need for finals. At your age and stage of educational development, I'm very sure you have turned into an expert at learning at this point. You're already smart enough, you just need to put in the time necessary to study, you know what to do. You work hard now so you don't have to work hard in the future. Wow...it's just like have my mom back again! Happy Mother's Day WVU!!!!

I didn't know you spoke French!

Thank you. I'm blushing.

More insight for Paul's game. Wow...Your ability to ferret out meaning from this is very scary!

I am so tired of audio reviews. When I read a car review, I can understand what they are saying. When I read a hotel review, I understand what the reviewer is saying is good or bad about the particular site. When I read a resturaunt review, I either get hungrier or decide to start a diet. But when I read an audio review,it reminds me of the children's story about the Emperor who had no clothes. Here are lines from the last review I read. More dynamic at the macro level and about the same as you scale down to the micro level. Imaging is similar in density and edge definition (i.e. very good) but with a little less layering. A nice sense of natural flesh and blood solidity comes through. The acoustic around the images is less charged by the music. The texture (grain size of noise) is a bit larger and more noticeable and in the plane of the music but only rarely intrusive. There is a nice sense of air and space Gives less of a 'they are here' perspective and more of a 'you are there' sense to the music A little less continuous -- a little larger grained -- but still very liquid and flowing and still making the music come across as connected from moment to moment to be musically compelling. WTF?

Please allow me to offer the generous sum of $650.

Now you need the tubes.

AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Pick one. Not two. Not zero. One