PSVANE 12Au7 12At7 12Ax7 "-T MKII" 2020 production run of small signal/driver tubes

Thanks @johnss you are helping me to decide to keep my vintage stash around to fill in between these premature failing [or possibly damaged due to poor boxing & shipping] new issue small tubes. 

Note & ?: The small tubes i have previously  purchased directly from overseas [and better packaged and boxed] seem to last a LOT longer than any tubes purchased and magically tested by a few US retailers here who minimally box, stuff, pack and ship. Cutting corners, back to lazy cheapskates, and limited packer behaviors is what im zeroing in on now. 

Trying to figure this out -

Its like they buy a box of 100 well packed tubes overseas, then strip pairs of tubes and packing down to minimal packing and boxing [to save $ ???] on US shipping. i.e when they get to us they prematurely fail after getting rattled apart due to minimalist packaging and boxing and shipping within the US. Thinking this gain now.

TJ Full Music figured this out too a few years back as being the case after a long two year research study right before they sold off the rights and tooling to PSVane. They had lots of reported failures more with US retailers.  I started buying from overseas distributers and received great packaging and boxing with zero failures. None, all tubes still running strong after 2+ years.  May be some truth to that study.

This last quad of GL small tubes I received over the holidays [well tested] from a major US retailer [was a joke of packing and boxing] and were crackling and popping in the first hour and a lot more at hour 8. Had to RMA ship them back.  Still investigating and giving feedback to the owners of these companies now. A big waste of time and $ for all involved.

Keeping eyes and ears open for joker-packers.  Demand great internal packing and boxing every time or else more failed and returned tubes, fwiw,

@johnss ,

I agree with the same concern. But since they have a warranty of 1 year, I will see how long these Horizons last and if they will honor the warranty. At $49 a pair, I think @decooney might as well try them. It you want to get the ART series, I recommend Vivatubes, since they check them and have a warranty.

@johnss ,

I agree with the same concern. But since they have a warranty of 1 year, I will see how long these Horizons last and if they will honor the warranty. At $49 a pair, I think @decooney might as well try them. It you want to get the ART series, I recommend Vivatubes, since they check them and have a warranty.

I’ve successfully exercised the warranty and return policy with Viva Tubes multiple times now. And so have a few audio buddies of mine again lately. Never had problems in the past with them. Following up again now, be sure they pack/box well - heads up.

I don’t care about the cost of small tubes as much as I care about the longevity any more. I’m currently using my direct-overseas packed and shipped tubes now instead with no issues after 2- 3yrs. All of my private seller vintage tubes, several pairs, [all well packed and boxed] continue to work perfectly fine as well.

Vivatubes is a great seller and does try to filter out the duds. Have bought quite a few dozen tubes from them. Both Chinese and Russian. Some duds still can get through. Not sure if the packaging on the China sourced tubes has much of an effect or not/ My guess is (based on the test results) the super wide variability, and ELFs in manufacturing at the factory coupled with a mile wide test spec at Shuguang and PSVANE. And in China there are tubes scrapped. Everything gets sold.

And you really can't use these in any gear that pushes the tube right at the design limits such as VTL or ARC. You will end up with fireworks. 

I have tested quite a few new tubes from both mfgrs. in the maximatcher. Test results are all over the map from completely worn out to spectacular. Think a lot of getting a great tube or a dud tube is luck of the draw on which tubes a buyer gets.  

If a person has a large stash of NOS US and Euro tubes I certainly would not think about dumping the stash in favor of these Chinese tubes. 

I have a pretty large stash of RCA 5814 black plates so have reverted back to these. For power tubes have switched back to EH or the Tungsol Russian re-issues. 

Just heard back this week from PSVane direct. They asked for info and I sent photos of my Oct ’22 manufactured date pair of CV-181 TII tubes I stopped using. QA issues were acknowledged from this time period, and they are following up.

Also responding to my questions around naming and branding confusion - received a breakdown explanation between the Acme / Art Series / Horizon Series tubes. Will need to interject and relay that somewhere when the topic comes up again on some thread somewhere I guess, at their request.

I'm holding off on purchasing any Art Series small tubes until this other matter is updated and possibly resolved. Sharing fwiw.