let's talk about tubes for Quickie

  Thank you Paul. If we can reason from simplicity itself, then starting on the same page is likely. THEN the numbers can roll.

  Eric,  Maybe that ;s what I like about the Telefunken tubes as well. I just gotta add that I actually bought these tubes still fresh in the box. It was kind of an experience to take off the cellophane wrapper. It had a red stripe that you pull, just like on cigarette packs.
 
Earic,

  This is NOT a competition....but my tubes were both virgin, and innocent.
 
Thank you much Dr. Lambert....  So, If I have 85db 8 ohm speakers and a powerful amp, the quickie will play fine or run out of juice quickly?  again , sorry for my lack... or basically give me the best case speaker/amp setup for a quickie please...
 
Hello Chris,

This depends on the senstivity of your amplifier.  It may require 1/4 of a volt to reach full power, or it may require 5 volts to reach full power.  (This is specified as input sensitivity, or alternitavely it can be determined from the amplifier's gain as well)

-PB
 
Ok, thank you Paul, so can the quickie be used with ANY amp and sound great? or to sound its best, there are certain restrictions that apply that say a BeePre doesnt have due to its 20v capabilities?.. someday, I will be "asking you, haha" to build me a BeePre as a reference preamp, but, when I get to building here, I want to start with a quickie to build myself and use it for my desktop computer system for basically low volume listening with Doc and PJs new el84 kit coming out at a later date :) ..... I already know my speakers will be Kefs LS50s.. They are 85ish db sensitive..So again, the quickie will just be for low volume listening and will be matched with another bottlehead kit that may or may not come out at a later date.. OR I want the quickie to play around with my other solid state amps that I have laying around.. So, in a nutshell, are all these desires that I have , possible with the quickie, or is it just a true system dependent component in order to sound good... It sounds like EVERYONE likes their quickie no matter what components they have, so maybe Mr. Joppa just freaked me out for no reason...haha :)
 
Also, when a seller says, used but tested as new... can a tube test as new for hundreds of hours of use and then start dropping off, when it is starting to go down "the tubes", or is it a steady gradual decline that can be picked up by the tester?
 
  Chris,  From what I can tell, many, if not most of the BH group tend to have high sensitivity speakers( much higher than 85db, as you stated). It's still a juggle of things beyond that, but if the system is in sync, as far as sensitivity, size of room, type of music, etc. then the Quickie does quite well. An amplifier that can run on a lower voltage(input sensitivity), would be a better choice in your case. Not to mention adequate power and gain. 85db sensitivity for speakers is low in my book, and is a part of the whole chain of things spoken about in previous posts here.
 
Chris said:
Also, when a seller says, used but tested as new... can a tube test as new for hundreds of hours of use and then start dropping off, when it is starting to go down "the tubes", or is it a steady gradual decline that can be picked up by the tester?
Click to expand...

Yeah, a tube can test "as new" for 10,000+ hours (I have a few 6SN7's that exhibit this behavior).  Regardless of this, emission dropoff is generally extremely gradual.
 
Thank you 4k.. Yeah, I know 85db is low, but they sounded SUPERB with a cayin 300b amp I  heard them with, And since they will be nearfield, I think they should be Ok.. In a nutshell, I want to get the quickie anyway, no matter what.. Just to have (what a neat little pre) and get building experience.. So, in the end it doesnt really matter so much I guess because when ready (moved), I will look into amp matching with a stereomour or something else that Dr. Frankenjoppa's genius can cook up in his lab, and just have a quickie for doing what you guys do.. tweaking and playing around with it... After all, as we know, the price of admission for entrance into the quickieland play experience is the best in audio!! So, thank you all for the answers.  Sorry? What was that Doc? "just build the damn thing and plug it into all my amps and find out??" Yep, you are right, I will do just that.... Not sure you have to swear though.... :)    Sorry guys, If I am weirder than normal, I have not slept for 34 hours, so forgive me...
 
So, buying a "tested as new" tube is a gamble then? Do you stay away from tubes like that? or I am sure as usual, it all depends on the asking price etc..ok, so when a tube starts its gradual decline, can there still be thousands of hours of life and good sound left depending on the tube? Cuz, i hear tubes like teles can maybe be 100,000 hours.?.. thank you
 
I would stay away from any used tube, you have no idea of how many hours are on it.  NOS or new old stock, is the way to go, given that the seller is honest.
 
Kinda like buying a used car, eh? Once again, I refer to Vintage Tube Service. And yes, I'm sure that there are  others. I typically go for new tubes, but when I deal with Andy at VTL, I don't wonder so much. And then there is the group of sellers who THINK they know what they are talking about. It's a tough call for me at least.
 
Yeah, a trusted service is probably the best way to go.. and Yeah, PB, makes sense, most NOS tubes may not be new anyway... I will just avoid ebay...
 
There's no reason to avoid eBay, it's easy enough to make returns.  It's also worth mentioning that a tube like the 3S4 will almost always be NOS, as used old stock of inexpensive tubes like these will generally be discarded as used pulls. 

Looking on eBay, all but one or two of the listings are almost certainly new old stock.
 
I would second that in terms of the cheaper tubes. There is no profit in selling totally used 3s4's. They are cheap to begin with! Those that have them, they are probably going to be NOS. For $5 its worth a shot!
 
The gain should not change much with low battery operation, until the filament voltage gets too low to maintain emission. Usually this will be around 1.0 volt.
 
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