Roger, thanks for dropping in. It is a pleasure having someone of your caliber joining the conversation. I hope you don't mind me asking you a few questions and throwing a few comments / observations your way while we have your attention.
Even with checking tubes for noise levels, gain matching, etc... how do you account for variables in sonics from tube to tube and brand to brand ? Obviously, not every tube, even though they might have come out of the same batch and production run, will sound or measure the same. That is why i stated that tubes "almost offer TOO many variables", even amongst the same brand.
I know that people that work on / design gear for a living tend to look at things like this as kind of a science. I also know that the many years of experience have taught you a LOT of the "in's and out's" of what to look for. None the less, i still think that it is almost impossible to know exactly what tube will work best in a component in a specific system without actually trying them out. Obviously, the work that you do somewhat "pre-qualifies" the tubes in that they are not "junk" or "noisy", but that does not specifically tell anyone what sonics they might possess in a specific piece of gear.
As you know, changing just a few of the operating points within the curve can DRASTICALLY alter both the readings and sonics that you get out of a device. This is true of either tube or solid state devices. As such, how do you select the specific settings that you choose to use when testing tubes ? How applicable are those results on a somewhat "universal" basis ? Sean
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