Did I lose a tube?

randog · « **on:** 18 Dec 2003, 10:55 pm »

I haven't opened her up yet, but my Norh cd-1 is only playing from one channel. I'm working right now so I can afford to write this before I have the time to look.

I just put in a pair of nos Sylvania GB 5751 gold pins and had about 2 hours playing time on them before this happened.

I bought them from a guy who sells tubes on Audiogon.

There is absolutely no sound out of the left channel.

Supposing one blew and was essentially defective, what if anything should I expect from the seller? I know this is a sticky wicket (whatever that is!).

Thanks for your opinions,
Randog

EDS_ · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 11:46 pm »

Quote from: randog

I haven't opened her up yet, but my Norh cd-1 is only playing from one channel. I'm working right now so I can afford to write this before I have the time to look.

I just put in a pair of nos Sylvania GB 5751 gold pins and had about 2 hours playing time on them before this happened. I bought them from a guy who sells tubes on Audiogon.

There is absolutely no sound out of the left channel.

Supposing one blew and was essentially defective, what if anything should I expect from the seller? I know this is a sticky wicket (whatever that is!).

Thanks for your opinions,
Randog

Likely not. I've never had a tube just die like that. Usually a dying tube sort-of sounds like pop corn over a fire. And this lasts for a while.

Hopefully each channel has its own fuse and one of them is out.

randog · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 12:24 am »

Yea, well check this out:

Can you say P O O F

randog · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 12:42 am »

BTW, these are/were grey plates. I know the potential short life of the black plates.

EDS_ · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 03:52 am »

Dude! That is a failure. Sorry.

JohnR · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 03:59 am »

Gassed

markC · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 04:59 am »

Yea- you definatly lost a tube. What did it look like b4 you plugged it in? Was the getter all nice and silvery? I'm currently running Sylvania B plates in mine and so far-so good, (about 2 months on them). Hope you didn't pay what I think you may have payed for the GB's.

pjchappy · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 05:33 am »

Well, luckily it did no damage.

I am pretty new to this audio world and a few months ago, a tube went bad in my preamp (a Tesla tube from PartsExpress.com) and fried my amp. I couldn't see a damn thing wrong w/ the tube, though.

p

randog · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 05:51 am »

When I pulled the tube I noticed the glass was cracked from one of the pins on up. I'm betting it was a hairline fracture that expanded once heated and outgassed the tube.

So... I sent an email to the seller. What do y'all think I should expect, if anything?

I noticed one reputable seller on audiogon gives 90 days. I never asked about a warranty when I bought these tho. I do understand they are NOS and all (probably at least 40 years old).

I actually felt pretty good about the price at $95 for a matched pair, especially since one guy was offering a pair for $250! It's a damn shame too since they appeared absolutely perfect in every way including the lettering. One even came with the original box and I'm a sucker for vintage shit in great shape.

I think they are getting really, really tough to find.

Once again, what do y'all think I should expect from the seller, if anything?

bubba966 · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:14 am »

Quote from: randog

Once again, what do y'all think I should expect from the seller, if anything?

Was it even the fault of the seller?

Could the shipper have done such a thing?

If it was the fault of the seller, and he expressed no warranty I'd imagine that he'd not be inclined to do anything about it. No implied warranty is as-is, right?

I'm not trying to sound like an ass or anything. And I'd certainly be heated if that happened to me. And while I'd probably mention it to the seller, I don't think I'd expect to get anything from the seller to compensate for the loss.

pjchappy · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:26 am »

Did this guy ever use these tubes?. . .

It seems pretty impossible for a tube to get damaged in any kind of shipping w/ even the crappiest of packing.

If never used, it could have had that crack for a LONG time. . .as for getting money back, contact seller NICELY. . .other than that, caveat emptor (unless a warranty was given).

p

randog · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:28 am »

Quote from: bubba966

If it was the fault of the seller, and he expressed no warranty...

I think you can tell by the tone of my posts that I'm on the fence as to what to expect which is why I asked for opinions.

However, your statement is incorrect. He did not express 'no warranty'. I never asked about it. If I did, and he 'expressed no warranty', I wouldn't bother him now. However, if I asked before buying and he 'expressed no warranty', especially for DOA, I probably wouldn't have done business with him.

How he responds to this will let me know whether I will ever do business with him again. And that's NOT to say I'm expecting him to do anything... but more of how he handles it in his response.

I'd rather deal with a helpful person who isn't willing to refund than an asshole who pisses on my money and sends it back in a flaming bag of poop. I'm kinda funny like that.

pjchappy · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:31 am »

Well, this is a difficult situation. . . contact him nicely and go from there. Shit, if he claims a shipping problem, that will probably be impossible to resolve (especially if no insured shipping was involved. . . but I am not too familiar w/ UPS/FedEx shipping policies). . .

Anyways, no warranty asked for, no warranty given. . .if that IS the case, then, IMO, you are screwed, unless you were dealing w/ someone like me

p

randog · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:43 am »

I did contact him nicely... we'll see if he responds <shrug>.

This is a regular tube peddler on Audiogon which may make a difference from you or I selling from our personal stash. I'm sure he has developed his own personal response by now. I'm sure it isn't the first time... these are little glass ornaments after all.

Shipping is not the issue. They were packed extremely well and the little boxes they came in were perfect.

One was bad... no biggie... these things happen. I just need to find an orphan match now.

Randog

bubba966 · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:43 am »

I wasn't meaning that the seller specifically said "no warranty" and you were looking for advice on how to proceed.

I was speaking that he didn't say there was any warranty. Which is how it was, right?

All I meant was that if I bought something and didn't get told that there was any warranty with it, that I wouldn't expect any warranty.

I would certainly try to find out if the seller was willing to work out something to remedy the situation if such a thing happened to me.

I don't know the specifics of the deal at all. If the seller sells tubes as a business or hobby, I'd bet that he'd be willing to work with you to resolve your problem.

But if it's just some guy selling a pair of tubes he had sitting around I'd bet that he wouldn't do much to help resolve the situation.

I'm only saying this as I've not dealt with too many good people on AudiogoN or VideogoN. I've had more bad experiences than good experiences on both sites.

randog · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 07:05 am »

Chivalry is not dead

I've already received a response. Here it is:

"I am sorry about the bad tube. I am quite sure that I did not try to send one out looking like that. But tubes do fail too. May I offer full refund for both including shipping, if you decide not to keep the one good tube because I do not have a replacement. Or partial refund for bad tube if you choose to keep the good one. Please let me know. Again, my apologies for your inconvenience."

Pretty bitchin' seller, I'd say.

I'm going to keep the single because they are so hard to find and try to find a match or another matched pair. If anyone knows of or stumbles across any Sylvania GB 5751 gold pins, please let me know!

Thanks,
Randog

pjchappy · « **Reply #16 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 07:11 am »

Sounds good. . .but. . . I'm not a big tube guy, how do you get another one that's matched. . .

Regardless, so far, it sounds like you are dealing w/ a good guy.

p

randog · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 03:13 pm »

Bubba,

I think I figured out what you were referring to when you said 'expressed no warranty'. The phrase ' no expressed or implied warranty' popped into my head, maybe while I was sleeping.

If that's what you meant to say, then yes, that means something quite different and I understand what you were getting at.

bubba966 · « **Reply #18 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 03:17 pm »

Yup, all I was trying to say was that he made no mention of a warranty so I wouldn't expect it to be resolved in a positive outcome.

Which matters not now as he took care of you.

markC · « **Reply #19 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 10:57 pm »

A good mutal conductance tube tester is the only way that I know of to accuratly match tubes, (although I read somewhere that there are new gadgets on the market). Does someone have a comparison opinion between the black plates and the grey plate gold pins? I am currently running the blacks and am a little sqeezed to lay out the cash for the gold pins. But I sure want to try 'em!