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The remnants of the old Empire Tube - they were a rebuilder absorbed by VDC sometime after the mid-80's. I have the Empire/Video Display Corp CRT substitution guide from the early 90's, with both companies prominently listed together. Empire CRTs weren't great - we used to see them fail after just a year or so, and they were sold with a one-year Empire warranty. Their 23VAL/VAT (a 25AP22 universal sub) was a strong performer - I saw only one ever come back at the distributor I worked for - and that was for phosphor flaws. But their 25V series tubes were the weak ones that failed early. Ironically, I once had an 11SP22 in an Empire box - I used the box to ship an Altec amp in 2002, and still have the 11SP22 as a spare for my two Portacolors.


Cheers,

They also list a lot of CRTs that they don't have like the 12WP4. The only way to know whether they acutally have one is to call them or try to buy one.

John

I picked up a NOS 17DRP4 from them. Buyer beware though - it has a 6.3 VAC filament rather then 2.68!

I might order a couple of tubes to have on hand... I knew one of the founders of VDC, and I was always happy with their tubes. They're the company who sold an upgrade from the dreadful Sony 710AB22, of which I probably bought 100 from VDC. I've never had them shipped before; I always went to pick them up at a Los Angeles distributorship. Not sure if you can still do that, though.

Charles

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