Valve Matching ?

[Chris Davies]

I have just put 4 kt88 EH tubes in as a replacement for the China made KT88s that were in my amp.

I ordered a matched quad set but got 2 matched pairs.

1 set were measured at 70 the other set at 88.

So would i be right in putting a 70 and an 88 in each channel to balance the channels out ? or does it not really matter ?

Chris

 

[lbr]

if you paid for a matched set, l would be Sending them back and asking for what you paid for !

 

[la toilette]

if you paid for a matched set, l would be Sending them back and asking for what you paid for !

Me too!

 

[zanash]

yes send them back ..or at least contact the dealer to send you either another pair of either rating ...then send the spare pair back ....

if you asked for a quad set thats what you should get !

use a more reliable source ....like hotroxuk.com

they have always been very helpful to me in over fifteen years service ...and competatively priced too ...


[I have no connection with them other than being a customer]

 

[Chris Davies]

That's who i used as it goes.

But still my question stands i guess as in - will the channels balance if i used them as originally posted ?

As long as the valves are tested found to be in good working order does matching matter so much ?

Newbie here so forgive the lack of understanding

 

[zanash]

yes ......matching matters otherwise why bother ?

its best to have all as close as possible ...

you go to the trouble of getting someone to design the amp so signal paths are the same length ,component tolerances are measured in parts per million ... cable runs are identical ..etc

then fit mismatched valves ?

I'd get straight on the phone to him and ask him to swap on pair to match the other pair .....

as to fitting you need the matched pairs for each channel ..

on channel may sound slightly different from the other if you can manually bias this may offer some compensation but woyld be far more effort than getting the wrong pair swapped ! imo

 

[Chris Davies]

Ok phoned em

That was all they had in the shop they could not match a set of quads and don't know about availability for another set. So i guess for the mo i'm stuck.

 

[bottleneck]

Try:

CVC (chelmer valve company)
Langrex Supplies
Watford Valves

.. if you can get them elsewhere you could send all 4 back.

 

[Arg]

use a matched pair in each channel