Greetings , I have Rogue gear but here’s my experience over the last 2 weeks. I sent a pair of M-180’s back to Rogue for a repair and upgrade to the “ Dark “ level. The fee for this was $2495 and comes with new signal tubes ( 3 per amp ). They no longer provide NOS signal tubes due to availability, quality and price. Instead they use higher quality new production tubes. When I enquired about Tung Sol KT-120’s which were their standard, they switched to Psvane KT-88’s. They STRONGLY suggested that I avoid current production Russian power tubes including the 120’s and GL KT 88’s. They said if I could source older sets I’d be ok. They said they were close to 50% failure rate on the current ones. So Rogue is shipping with Psvane KT 88’s. They charge $500 for an octet. Considering my amps have all new parts I said to ship back with the Psvanes. They said they like them as much as Gold Lions and they’ve had good reliability. The only Psvanes I’ve used before were the T Series Mark II from Grant Fidelity. They are coated glass and a gold base, built like a tank. I’ll be up and running in about 2 weeks with the Psvanes and I’ll see what happens. At least I’ll have a base set of tubes for the amps. As soon as the amps are broken in I’ll roll NOS Telefunken signal tubes and look for some KT 120’s. I’ll probably bite the bullet and overpay at Upscale, but I’ll feel safe. A few years back I had a brand new GL KT-77 fail in another amp and damage the amp. I also asked about KT 150’s and was told that I’m my amps I would not gain anymore power due to limited plate voltage. Good luck and I hope my ramble helps. Regards, Mike B.
Which tubes to buy
I have an Audio Research Ref. 160s power amplifier. It's almost time to replace the tubes. This will be the first time I replace the tubes in this amp. In the past I have purchased tubes for my Ref. 6SE preamp directly from Audio Research or Upscale Audio. Audio Research furnishes Tung-Sol KT 150 tubes with the amp. and also as replacements. Recently I have found PSVANE brand tubes available. Does anybody have experience using these tubes? I'm trying to get the best sound quality. Tung-Sol made in Russia have been around a long time. PSVANE made in China is new to me. Any suggestions or recommendations?