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Elrog 300b's for sale. Your thoughts?

I noticed this morning an add for the new Elrogs.   I and many others on the forum ran the experiment when the Elrogs were initially launched.   We found the tubes to be superb sonically, but woefully unreliable.  In fact, the early failure rate on those tubes was apparently 100%.  I and others received replacements that were hand selected for suitability in our particular amps.  In fact one individual had 3 pairs fail.  In my case, I went so far as to purchase a PS audio power plant, having been assured that limiting incoming voltage to 115V would ensure reasonable lifetime for the Elrogs.  Two days ago, one of my replacements failed, after having been nursed along carefully.  Honestly, I doubt the tubes had 600 hours on them.  So the Psvane T1s went back in and I began the period of mourning for my deceased Elrogs.  This morning I awake to the siren song of an ad from a reputable dealer who is announcing availability of the new improved Elrogs with a 1 year warranty.   My initial reaction was, "I don't think so.  Someone else can run the $1200 experiment.  Burned once and lesson learned."  But here is the problem.  If all of Elrogs former customers take that approach, the new Elrog will also fail even if the tubes are good for 10000 hours, simply because no one will buy them.    The tubes are so good that it would be a tragedy if that happened.  So the question to all of you who have already been down this road is this?  What would it take for you to give these tubes a try again?
brownsfan

Showing 3 responses by almarg

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Thomas, thanks very much for your excellent responses.  And I second the good wishes extended by the others.

Regarding:
450V/90mA would already be slightly over the limit and thus is not recommended.
I would add that neither number is in itself over the limit.   It is the combination of the two that would result in the tube's maximum power dissipation rating being slightly exceeded.

I say that based on the ratings indicated in this datasheet for the original version of the Elrog tube, as well as on the ratings specified in this 1939 datasheet for the original Western Electric tube.  Although this 1950 datasheet does indicate 400 volts as a "maximum rating, design center value" for the Western Electric tube.

Regards,
-- Al  

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Mike, thanks for those inputs. But I’m puzzled by the fact that the three tube types you mentioned use different filament voltages, among various other differences in electrical parameters. The 45 has a 2.5 volt filament; the 101D has a 4.5 volt filament, and the 300B has a 5 volt filament. Not sure how the "101D/45" setting you referred to could work with all three tube types. Although I’d imagine that a setting intended for use just with a 101D, that applied 4.5 volts to the filament, could work with a 300B in a reasonable manner, at least in a line-level application such as a DAC. It definitely wouldn’t be healthy for a 45 though.

Regards,
-- Al

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi Bill,

The following article by the gentleman who founded the company that is producing the new Elrog tubes will be of interest:

http://vinylsavor.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-future-of-elrog-tubes.html

I note the following statement in a response to someone's comment beneath the article:
These are tubes of the latest production with improvements which solved the reliability issue of the filaments in some amps. The tubes now carry a full 1 year warranty also on emission.
I suppose that a logical question would be if the improvements that are referred to can be expected to result in any changes in the sonics of the tube, compared to the original.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
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