[MaxCast]

http://swmi.craigslist.org/ele/2908959916.html

[TONEPUB]

I've tried this twice now, and I've gotten crap both times.  Usually an old TV repairman's lot and almost no tubes if any that translate into the audio world.

Do it at your own risk!

[decal]

Are you able to go check them out?

[FullRangeMan]

Yes, for buy it, one have to be a tube expert and own a suited tube tester.

[medium jim]

It is too easy to eBay search what tubes the guy has and by the price, that is what he has done. There are literally thousands of different tubes and only about 25 to 50 are for Audio....

If you can meet the guy before buying (as already suggested) it might be worth the gas to check them out.  Even if you find a handful of good tubes, it might be worth the effort.  Be sure to have a tube subsitution guide handy...

Jim

[JakeJ]

It depends on your patience and the time you can dedicate to a project such as this.  And I assure you it is a project taking a large lot of old vacuum tubes and then identifying, cataloging, researching, and valuating each one.  Then come the daunting task of selling them if they are of any value.

Like Tonepub, I bought a large lot of octal tubes that I still have yet to get to the bottom of.  But it has yielded a few gems.  One lot I bought on eBay years ago was a really nice tube caddy that was stuffed with tubes, almost all of which were in boxes.  I won and it was shipped to my door for under $30.  Turned out there were two NOS NIB RCA 12AX7 tubes with date codes from 1963 and the rest were TV tubes (which I turned around on eBay as a lot) but the caddy was/is in virtually new condition and that was what I was really after. 

[kingdeezie]

Those tubes thrown into the box doesn't look promising. 

All it takes is one good pair of some exotic NOS to make the lot worth it, but $75 dollars is a lot to ask for what looks like a large amount of garbage.

I don't know if I would touch it.

[MaxCast]

Thanks for the replys, guys.
I did this once before for $25 with much less tubes and wasn't impressed.

I think the guy knows what he has as he is selling a bunch of cassette decks, integrateds, real-to-reals, etc.  He is local (20 min).  If I could snag them with an integrated for 40-50 it may be worth it??  Don't have a tester yet so that puts this as a future project.  I want the integrated for a computer set up.

[Ericus Rex]

I scan Craigslist all the time for tube goodies.  When I come across listings like that one, I scan the numbers of the boxes shown in the photo for familiar numbers.  My scan of your pic doesn't show a single tube used in audio, so I'd avoid that lot altogether.  I have had a couple of 'scores!'  Like JakeJ I picked up a lot of tubes with caddy for $30 that contained 6 - 6SN7s, a couple of 6SL7s, a couple of 12AT7s, 4 - 12AU7s and 6 or so common rectifiers, all good quality USA and NIB.  I'd have given the dude $30 for the empty caddy.  But, now I have a box full of TV tubes that are taking up space.  I can sell them individually and eventually make a profit (major headache) or sell them as a lot to some poor sap looking for audio tubes and probably get my investment back.  Need to get on that.

[JakeJ]

Cut the best deal you can on the integrated and forget the tubes.  I assumed you had, or at least have access to, a tube tester.  If you have to buy a tube tester just to justify buying the tube lot then forget it.  If you want to get into tubes at the component level then get a good tube tester first then you can think about buying boxes of old tubes that are not audio related.  And if you are into tube audio then having a tester around for yourself and friends is very handy.

[JohnR]

Skip it - TV tubes.

Go visit but be careful, experience tells me these guys know what's worth what.

Do you need some 12AU7s or 12AX7s? They're...  a good price....   

[bunky]

to me it would seem well worth a 20 minute drive to at least check them out.