I realize you probably won't give a damn what I say but IMO it's quite possible to have a truly matched tube set in a musically-important way (not merely in idling-heat-output) that nonetheless shows significant variances in DC current flow at idle between tubes. Unless you're using a toroidal OT - in which case a bias-servo circuit is in order IMO - 5mA or less DC mismatch won't matter at all IME. In fact, I've seen sets with much greater idle mismatches that put out very similar full-power currents, and sounded great; I'd trade DC current-matching at full power for DC current-matching at idle any day of the week, but I don't know of any tube seller that does this (and what is "full power"? or "idle", for that matter?). Idle DC-matching is really quick and easy to do, and it gives a number that can be readily checked with a meter - but usually it doesn't last, and unless you've got a serious mismatch (which IMO is important mainly for indicating large differences in baseline tube transconductances, which can make a real difference) it really isn't a matter of life and death tone-wise; my $.02, YMMV.
AC matching - now that's a different story. Getting a set of tubes that makes music in an identical fashion is very much a worthwhile goal IMO, but hardly anyone does it because a) it's difficult to do without a curve tracer, which involves money, possibly a computer w/attendant skill set, etc. b) you really need a huge quantity of 'raw' tubes to end up with a worthwhile number of AC-matched sets, and c) it doesn't always result in a closely-DC-idle-matched set, which can greatly increase the WTF!-factor on resale, especially when top dollar was paid. AFAIK the only big tube producer who AC-matches is Groove Tubes.
If you feel more comfortable going with tightly-DC-matched tube sets, that's great - it surely can't hurt, and at the very least it shows that some TLC was put into the selection of your tubes which IMO shows integrity on the part of the seller. I realize you posted that unmatched sets might still sound good, but I get the feeling that you'd much prefer a DC-matched set, and I'd hate to see you pass up some possibly great-sounded tubes (or having a bad feeling about a tube vendor) because they weren't within a certain arbitrary number of DC mA of each other at one particular Vp/-Vg. And as idle current (along with practically every other aspect of tube DC & audio performance) is dependant on interelectrode spacings - which are really pretty small, and can change during shipping - it's quite possible a perfectly-DC-matched set will arrive at your door unmatched.
en:
Re: I've got two GE 6550A pulls here, idling 17mA apart (50/33mA), and yet they pull 198/197mA with signal applied; go figure.
Maybe the tube with the lower idle current has a higher Transconductance (gm). Seems like that could account for it "catching up" to the other tube when signal is applied. In addition the drive from the phase inverter could be a little higher on one side. That would also affect the total measured current when signal is applied. Seems to me that the combination of these two factors could easily account for the measurements that you observed.
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