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ARC VS110 tubes

I will be changing my tubes on my VS110 in the near future. Unit is 1.5 years old and bought new from an ARC reseller. Should I buy factory tubes from my ARC dealer or the same model from some other tube vendor (such as TheTubeStore.com). I was told that factory tubes are perfectly balanced for my amp... not so with after market vendors. BTW I have no interest in tube rolling at this time.

I noticed that when buying from ARC tubes are more than twice the price than online vendors, why is that so?

Thanks for your reply
redsectora
elevick
2,636 posts
 
You should have your tubes tested before replacing. 1.5 years is not that old. You should get 1000+hours out of them.
As far as matching goes, getting matched pairs or quads of tubes will always cost more but not twice as much. Try:
thetubestore.com
upscaleaudio.com
echohifi.com
tubeworld.com pricey
tubeman.com can be pricey
tubesandmore.com inexpensive but still good
redsectora OP
9 posts
 
Thanks Elevick,

I'm probably closer to 1500 hours at this time.... heavy listener I guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know why ARC tubes are so expensive?
weiserb's avatar
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weiserb
476 posts
 
ARC does some testing for noise etc before selling tubes. They are an audio manufacturer not a tube dealer, so they charge more if you got to them for tubes. For less expensive tested tubes I use upscaleaudio.com

There are cheaper tube dealers out there but Kevin at upscale is pretty thorough in testing
samhar
1,048 posts
 
I was told ARC is extremely careful matching tubes (read high rejection rate 20 good tubes out of 100) if you don't have a tester to check what your getting they may be the safest bet. They make their money on electronics, I think tubes are more of a customer service, good tubes keep the customers happy with the gear. I was under the impression the stock tubes are good for up to 3000 hrs.
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