Tubes for Vac Super Avatar ??

It seems that I recall reading that Kevin Hayes "voices" all his amps to the tubes that come with it from the factory. I read a thread, I think in the amp asylum website, where several people replaced the factory tubes with expensive NOS tubes and ended up going back to the factory tubes. If I were you, I'd give Kevin Hayes a call to get his opinion. He probably keeps a record of your unit and if he's found better tubes to keep with the "voicing", he'll recommend them to you or sell them to you, if he has some available. I also have a VAC Avatar on my short-list to power my Reference 3a Dulcets.

I think I recall reading a post somewhere that Tvad tried the Genelex and the Shuguangs were superior in his Vac 110.

Onemangang's opinion does make sense to me when looking at a manufacturer's point of view. Kevin himself told me that he tries to use good tubes that are "readily" available. So from a "voicing" standpoint, he basically finds a good, readily available tube that works best in his circuit. He also mentioned that maybe 10% of the NOS tubes that he's experimented with might be better sonically than his stock tubes. He didn't tell me what those 10% were and I was reluctant to ask him. I guess tube rolling's the audiophile way, but it sure can get expensive in a fast way; but then again, VAC's stock tubes are pretty expensive, so what to do?

Grant,
Assuming I still have my VAC Musicblocs when the stock tubes begin to wear out( they still have some good life in them) I am definitely going to go the Penta or Shuguang versions per your recommendation. I feel confident that these are equivalent to VAC's stock power tubes, and there are good dealers for these who will sell them as matched pairs or quads.