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What is the best place to buy tubes?

What is the best place to buy tubes? I've read several threads on Audiogon listing many tube stores, but where can you get quality? I bought tubes from Tube Depot (listed many times here) and paid extra for matching. Not only weren't they well matched but 1/3 of them were bad, so I suspect the tubes I received weren't actually tested. Then they sent replacements, but half of those tested bad. I bought matched sets from The Tube Store, but they were so poorly matched that the distortion was worse that the old tubes they replaced. I've bought from equipment manufacturers (CJ, ARC) and found they do good testing and matching, but their prices are very high. Is there any place to get tubes that are matched well and of good quality? Thanks.
holos

Showing 1 response by ckorody

ckorody
643 posts
 
Brandon at TubeWorld is extremely knowledgeable and stands behind his product with a money back guarantee.

So does Brent Jesse at http://www.audiotubes.com/.

As does Dennis Boyle at Chimera Labs who does not have as wide a stock but can often hook you up with great tubes at lower prices. Great guy to deal with.
http://home.att.net/~chimeraone/tubesaleslist.html

With all three guys the knowledge and advice is top notch, product is great and packing and shipping are fast.
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