Audio Research - should I replace the valves?

if u want NOS, try the top 3 dealers: jim mcshane, brent jessee or andy at vintage tube services unless u need new stock. jim carries a good bit of new stock, but i dont know if he carries what ur usin.

hey there @immatthewj thanks for catchin that so quick!

i just re-read my emails and revisited the website. im mistaken.

seems even tho theyre sellin tubes again they never took down their "we paused out tube selling" page. 

thank you my friend

"

No sweat, @cey .

anyway, the last time I bought output tubes was a couple of years ago; I bought a dozen of the reissued Tungsol EL34s from Jim McShane to replace a dozen of the reissued Mullards that I bought from Uncle Kevin that didn’t last very long.

I am a big fan of Jim McShane now. "

@immatthewj holy smoke i heard about new production longetivity issues, but man that sucks. i gotta say ive had no such problems, but i hear aout em plenty. been runnin new production tubes not-so-gently in my guitar amps for a long time with very few surprises, tho i think thats in the power section. funny i never paid no mind to tube selection til i started getting into hifi. always told my tech, hey, whatever makes it sound good. and it always sounded good.

also, both jim and kevin are known for testing the heck outta them. andy, i think, puts em thru the ringer as well, tho he doesnt do new production.  

@immatthewj  i hear u brother!