CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Sorry, the deal is dead. The vendor (VDC in Tucker, Georgia) won't agree to let me inspect the tubes before paying for them.
So, nobody in his right mind would accept those conditions and I'm (mostly) in my right mind.

Final notice: I've waited as long as I'm going to. If you want in on the group buy, SEND ME AN EMAIL TITLED "GROUP BUY ON CRTs" and let me know you're ready to pay your share.

I must get this message not later than midnight, Monday July 4.

Send the email to me at:

cmjohnson@cfl.rr.com

If I don't get the commitments, VIA EMAIL, by that time, for 12 sets, the deal will be off.

Enough interest has been shown to take this to the next level. Refer to comments at the bottom end of this topic for further information.

My direct email contact is
cmjohnson@cfl.rr.com

Please contact me directly if you want to be a part of this deal.

Please note: The pricing given here applies ONLY to tubes that are part of this GROUP BUY.

It does NOT apply to any other tubes that I am currently stocking as those have a different, and higher, cost basis.

I am now in a position to facilitate and coordinate a group CRT buy for P19LUG and P19LCP tubes.

I want to see if there is enough interest in this group buy to be worth my making the effort.

Here is the situation: I have access to "plenty" of very slightly used, but absolutely perfect,
P19LUG and P19LCP tube types.

I mean, perfect. ZERO detectable phosphor wear. No wear that can be seen by the naked eye
in either white light OR with a blacklight, which is the more sensitive test as the blacklight actually
excites the phosphors and shows you how it will really look.

No damage, no phosphor wear, no dead spots. Emission and output typical for a new or nearly new
tube, with G2 and drive levels needed for proper biasing on the low side of the scale, as is typical
for a new or very low hours tube.

Every tube is run tested. But anode leads are extra. I have to do this because anode leads are not cheap
and I would not make enough money for this to be worth my effort if I have to provide a new anode lead on every tube.

Shipping cost to you is NOT included with this.

I have been able to negotiate better pricing and here is that pricing:

200 dollars per tube/600 dollars per set.

If you want them pre-installed in a Marquee LC assembly, I can do that for you on an exchange basis
for a cost of 50 dollars each, or 100 dollars if you don't have LC hardware to exchange.

Here is how this works: I need to sell TWELVE SETS, at the minimum, to be able to make this deal happen.

If you want in on this, post your screen name and say "I commit to one set (or whatever you want)" in this
topic.

If you commit, set aside or start saving the money. If you wish you may deposit the money with a third party
member of this forum, a well regarded and trustworthy member, who will hold it in escrow until all the money has
been accumulated and the buy is made. I'm offering this escrow service (in principle, and an escrow manager has not
been selected and in fact nobody has even asked yet, are there any volunteers?) so that you have no questions about my own personal intent.

Yes, I'll make a few dollars per tube. But not much. I'd prefer that my cost to get the tubes would be lower than it is.
I would then be able to offer them for even less.

Only tubes that fully meet the stated specifications regarding quality, phosphor condition, output, drive levels, etc. will be accepted and sent on to you. I do expect to find a few rejects. They're part of the reason why the tube price is as low as it is. You will never see those rejects.

My role in this is that I will be receiving the tubes, I will clean every tube free of every trace of old silicones and adhesives, I will visually inspect and operationally test the tubes, and in the case of those destined for Marquees, I will handle the task of potting the tube into updated, fully "improved" LC chamber assemblies.

Those improvements involve replacing of ALL hardware with stainless steel hardware, using either VDC's or Nashou's improved bellows, and painting the inner coolant chamber surfaces, in contact with glycol, with black VHT epoxy paint to permanently seal the aluminum against corrosive attack from the glycol.

For coolant, I recommend getting two bottles of this: (It's enough for all three LC assemblies if you don't spill much.)
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/20-6060

This train gets moving when a minimum order quantity of 36 CRTs has been reached.

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4379 Location: Phoenix

Guys

There is no unlimited supply of these things. The last of the flight sim sites are clearing out their parts. If you plan on staying in CRT for another few years, the time to buy spares is now.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

That's what I'm getting at. Seriously, this MIGHT be the last bargain to be had in getting minty tubes for your projectors.

Winter is coming, and for CRT projection, there will be no spring this time around. If you have no plans to retire your CRT projector with its top-of-the-heap image quality, and you want to run it for years to come, you might seriously consider
laying in a stock of spares for it. Tubes and common failure items at least.

I will personally be taking some risk with this because I will personally fully test EVERY tube and any bad ones will have to be absorbed out of the small cut of the money that I will take for myself. If enough are bad, I'll LOSE money. But I don't see that being a likely outcome as my experiences with the last 48 tube lot I picked up has shown a very acceptable fallout rate. To be precise, about 4 percent. 2 out of 48 have been observed to be weak and dim but looked perfect.

Because of that, if, for example, 12 sets are ordered, I'll actually take delivery of an extra set or two just to cover the occasional and inevitable bad tube.

I am giving serious consideration to making a road trip and personally selecting the tubes myself. Equipped with battery operated
LED blacklight in hand, I will be able to at least ensure that every chosen tube has every outward appearance of perfection.

There's not really any room for me to move on the price unless I can negotiate a better deal with the source. I would love to get them for 50 bucks a tube and get the right to swap out the duds, but I don't actually expect to see that happening.

soleboy · Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 22

Hi cmjohnson~

I commit to two sets for my cine9 blending rigs~!!

I live in South Korea. How can I send money to you? maybe I can use paypal.

Thank you

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

And so it starts.

Two sets committed. Keep your money. When I have enough commitments I'll ask all buyers to send the funds to
a designated escrow manager or to me directly.

But don't send any money to anybody until I say so. If we don't make a 12 set minimum order, this probably won't happen.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

As you can see, I got better pricing than my original quote.

Minimum order quantity remains at 12 sets/36 tubes.

Yes, requests for specific colors can be made. Don't need reds, but need an extra blue or green?
Say so. Every attempt will be made to try to meet your requirements but we are dealing with a
stock of admittedly used tubes and greens in particular may be hard to find. But I've found nine
perfect ones before, so I suspect that there are more perfect ones to meet any standards.

If I have some solid offers, I can take that info to my tube source and use that as ammunition to negotiate for a better price so I can actually meet your price requests.

I'm not going to take your offers as the firmest of commitments, either. You have the option to back out of your offer until
two things have happened: You've transferred the money to either me or the (hopefully soon to be designated) escrow manager, and I've actually placed the order and paid for it.

So jump in here and let me know what you're thinking if you are at all interested in getting fresh tubes for your 9" projector.

When can this deal get done? Just a matter of days. I could quite literally order and pay for the the tubes tomorrow morning and drive up to pick them up in the late afternoon, if I'd gotten the money tonight. I could be preparing them to ship to you in just a couple more days, after they get cleaned, all labels, silicone, and attachments removed, (except for the tube ID label, of course), put new anode leads on them, test them, and match them into sets as needed.

If you order sets, then I will make every effort to ensure that all tubes in that set are the same brand. Brands will be
Mikado, Clinton, and Lexel. At this point it's doubtful that any fresh looking Panasonic tubes are still in the system.

I will also attempt to match them with regard to required drive and G2 levels. If one only needs G2 in the 10-20 range and another tube needs a G2 setting around 40 something, that's not well matched. I'll make every attempt to match up
tubes by their bias ranges as well as their brand.

deronmoped · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1154 Location: San Diego

I won't know for some time if I'm interested. I still have to put my theater back together and run this 9500 I just got. That could be as much as a year down the road.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

If you have P19LCP series tubes in your projector, just be aware that LUG tubes are significantly sharper. That may interest you.

ElTopo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1608

@Mitty: A Cine9 blend wow. You have some pics of your setup ?

cheers
ElTopo

Tim in Phoenix · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 4379 Location: Phoenix

Say CM

Your LCP type tubes, what are the versions exactly?

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Let's keep this "focused", please. This topic is for the purpose of (hopefully) getting commitments to make this hoped-for group buy a reality. While I'm interested in a Cine 9 blend setup, too, please give that its own topic.

I am checking to see if the minimum order quantity can be reduced. But there is a penalty of higher per-unit shipping costs as order quantities are lowered.

It costs very nearly as much to ship half a pallet of tubes as it does to ship a full pallet of tubes. So I'm hoping to fill that pallet with orders.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Oh yeah...Tim, my LCPs are P19LCP03s, they were taken from an incomplete AmPro 4600 chassis that was still on the assembly line, at the AmPro brankruptcy auction. They have G2 on pin 6, just like LUGs.

I'm not getting as much interest on this group buy as I had imagined I would.

I must conclude that my asking price, although it's a THIRD and less of the cost of buying a single brand new LUG, which is not
any better a tube than what I'm offering, is too much.

So I'm asking the question:

What is the price point you need to see in order to be interested in buying some of these tubes?

I'm trying to negotiate for both a lower price and a lower minimum buy quantity.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 10:36 pm Post subject:

Bloody hell, play nice. Buy from CM, buy from me, buy from someone else, I really don't care..

I deleted about the last 5-6 posts, as they served no purpose except yet more CRT community members attacking each other.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Update: I've negotiated for much better pricing.

I can offer them for HALF of what I originally quoted. I call that a worthy savings.

But this has caused me to have to make some other changes.

I am able to offer these tubes for a flat cost of just 200 dollars per tube. P19LUG or P19LCP, the cost is the same,
but I am trying to provide only LUGs unless someone specifies they want LCPs which are sharp enough for most
needs and they will usually last longer.

At this pricing, new anode leads are NOT included. They cost extra. How much is still to be determined.

This pricing only applies to the tubes which are acquired from THIS group buy.

It does not apply to any tubes I already have in stock, as they have a higher cost basis,
and besides, I've made deals to move nearly all of those that I don't need for my own
uses anyway. (Sold out.)

Additional costs for providing Marquee LC hardware are unchanged from what I first described at the start of this topic.

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I just acquired nine minty fresh, brand new green LUGs today. Four still have the protective clear film on the faceplates.

I have to test them all, of course. I won't even trust a new tube to be perfect until I verify it, as I HAVE seen problems with
tubes that can not be seen without running htem.

huggy · Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 11:04 am Post subject:

Dude

What the heck you gonna do with all these tubes ? Thumbs Up

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I was thinking it'd be fun to drop them onto concrete from the top floor of a 10 story building, just to watch them explode. Very Happy

huggy · Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 5:20 pm Post subject:

How much you going to sell them for?

Dave

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Those minty new green Mikados? 400 each. They're not part of the group buy and cost me more to get. You don't think I get tubes like that for FREE, do you?

Anode leads are extra, potting into Marquee LC hardware is extra, and I won't sell any of these until they're
fully tested and verified to be problem free from a home theater perspective. Meaning, no wear, no faults
with the phosphor within the active raster area, reasonable G2 and drive level requirements.

huggy · Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:22 pm Post subject: