Upscale Audio and Primaluna

@rsf507 To be honest, If I wanted to modify my systems ,I went to my local dealers and listened. Home audio has been a distant second to live music for this old man.  The open space and closed showrooms of the pandemic brought me to the forums.Searching for opinions and access  that evaporated with the isolation of the pandemic.  I had little to add until people expressed their opinions about their experiences with a dealer I found to be exemplary. I have never received such a warm welcome to a forum before...a troll. Very cool. Thanks. 

I have resisted chiming in up til now. It is amusing to me that KD brought up the Ah! Tjoeb because that is exactly what I was going to bring up. My observation is that Upscale has always put forward-at center stage-bang for the buck products that might appeal to those that harangue the prices of top-shelf audio products. It is a great business model. Much more sophisticated gear than a certain Michigan-based retailer that sends out cheap paper flyers every three weeks. 
Another marketing technique that demonstrates KD's savvy is coming forward with some "special edition" of a high-profile product. We have seen that with his versions of VPI tables, the Manley Chinook, the Ah! Tjoeb (IIRC a modified Oppo), and many others. 
I do think KD's equation of weight to quality is bit askew. The more accurate answer is that it all depends. Certainly that Ah! Tjoeb cdp was not heavy compared to the competition nor the Manley Chinook. While an amp's weight, particularly if tubed, may demonstrate the amount of heavy iron incorporated (trannies), what if they are of mediocre quality? Is every single part incorporated in a piece of PL gear of the same quality and within the same spec as the higher priced competition? Common sense tells anyone with half a brain that the answer is "all depends upon which competitor you are talking about". And let's not forget that the euphonic qualities of PL pre-amps are due largely to being rather high in even order harmonic distortion. 

Well, as far as time on the tubes, I changed my last set out when the hour meter on my projector, that I installed and turned on at the same time that I installed the 75SE, hit 3750 hours. Since there's no hour meter on the 75, 4500hrs was my estimate, since I listen to plenty of music without theater. Could have been more. The guys at Audio Research suggested it was time to swap 'em, so I called Upscale for some new ones.

My speakers are 97db efficient, and the Amp only dives the highs/mids, so if I see 5 watts on the needles it's LOUD.

In other words, the tubes are never stressed.

I run a set of 6H30DR true Super Tubes for twice that, so they'll get swapped to new 6H30DR's when the 150's get up there again. The DR's have a 10K hour rating from what I read. I swap the DR's in my preamp at the same time. No strange noises, and the big tubes never stray out of bias.

If you guys think I'm way out out line, I'm listening... 

I've always replaced output tubes at the 2000-2500 hour mark. Could they go longer? Sure. But that's only if you are willing to live with the degradation in sound, because you will surely notice the improvement when you replace them. So it's a matter of how frugal you are vs how important the sound is to you. Tubes are just like us human beings. They start "dying" from the minute they start "living". And also just like us, the difference is subtle over time that we hardly notice it. But if you woke up tomorrow and were 20 again, I think you'd know.

I think you are fine.  If you purchased a good set of tubes from Upscale that is wonderful.  My experience was different.  They said the tubes were matched and within Audio Research specs.  They weren't and it cost me over $3,000 to repair.  

I've purchased pre-amp tubes and phono stage matched tubes from Upscale and they were fine.  Wouldn't have a problem doing that again.  apologies if I gave the impression I wouldn't ever.  I'll just be more careful with power amp tubes.  That could be/was a costly mistake if they fair.  

I'm sure Upscale would have replaced the faulty tube, but they probably wouldn't have covered the repair costs of the amp.  Audio Research would.  But the tubes are probably twice as expensive.  But, AR does test and match each tube, and that does take time and expense to do that.

Also, I appreciate Kevin's response above.  It was well written and I really appreciate him stepping up with a response.  The Prima vs Audio Research REF 6 was an actual event that a good buddy of mine experienced.  I didn't appreciate the sales pitch where he was flatly told the prima was better.  That was crap and was unnecessary.  The Prima is a fine pre-amp for the money.  The REF 6 way more expensive and not in the class or range of the Prima.  Telling a potential buyer that solves the issue. 

That is like a mid range car vs a high end supercar.  Not even a fair comparison and who in their right mind would even compare the two?  Well, the rude people on the old top gear show maybe.  They compared a Camaro with a top of the line Mercedes AMG.  Stupid comparison.  not even in the same class or price range.  But, they really didn't like the USA, so there you are.

So, why compare a REF 6 with a Prima?  apples to apples would be better.  I've dealt with many fine dealers.  I've never done business with dealers that do that.  comparing a unit that is in the same price range or quality of a Prima?  I have no problem with that.  As a matter of fact, that is exactly what should be done.

enjoy