Cheap tm506 or wait for tm5006?

[David Greene]

So I picked myself up a Tek 7603 mainframe scope with a couple of 7A18 plugins for $50 and have a 7B53A on order.  I don't know if any of it works but if not I figure it will be a good learning experience.

I also have the opportunity to pick up a tm506 for < $100.  One issue I know it has is one of the plastic plugin guide rails is broken.  I assume that's an easy fix if I can find the part (maybe not so easy).  It's impossible to say what else might or might not work.  It's rather attractive to me to be able to have multiple instruments in a single case but I'm not sure if I should go for the tm506 and play around with it, knowing that eventually I'll want a tm5006 or if I should just wait longer to get a proper tm5006 for ~$200 with shipping.  Any advice is very welcome.

I'm planning to use these for audio work, eventually moving to radio and digital logic work as well, so there are many useful plugins for me.  The array of possibilities is bewildering.  For those who use these beasts, which plugins have you found most useful?

[srb1954]

So I picked myself up a Tek 7603 mainframe scope with a couple of 7A18 plugins for $50 and have a 7B53A on order.  I don't know if any of it works but if not I figure it will be a good learning experience.

I also have the opportunity to pick up a tm506 for < $100.  One issue I know it has is one of the plastic plugin guide rails is broken.  I assume that's an easy fix if I can find the part (maybe not so easy).  It's impossible to say what else might or might not work.  It's rather attractive to me to be able to have multiple instruments in a single case but I'm not sure if I should go for the tm506 and play around with it, knowing that eventually I'll want a tm5006 or if I should just wait longer to get a proper tm5006 for ~$200 with shipping.  Any advice is very welcome.

I'm planning to use these for audio work, eventually moving to radio and digital logic work as well, so there are many useful plugins for me.  The array of possibilities is bewildering.  For those who use these beasts, which plugins have you found most useful?

It all depends on what plug-ins you are intending to buy and whether you want GPIB control of the plug-ins, which will require a TM5006 mainframe. TM500 series plug-ins can still fit into a TM5006 main frame but a TM5000 series plug-in can't be fitted into a TM506 mainframe.

For best flexibility the TM5006 mainframe would be the preferred choice but it has disadvantages in that it is larger and heavier and it has a pretty noisy fan.

[Testtech]

I would wait for a TM5006A, somewhat lighter due to the updated power supply. The fan can be replaced with a a quieter one without much sacrifice of air flow, as Tek designed for worst case.
The TM5006x series will accept virtually all TM 500 plugins, it's what I use exclusively.