REF5SE tubes

I owned older ARC, before the 6h30, but run a line stage, the Veloce Lithio, which does use that tube. I had a NOS quad of the DR Reflektor which sounded better, and when I was "fettling," thought those might be past prime time; tried a set of new production from Russia and at least in the Veloce (configured as more up to date, with newer battery pack and circuit changes), the modern tube sounded dead and flat. I did find a quad of old never used DRs from the late ’70s that make music. I understand that some ARC users don’t hear that much difference between the DR (how old?) and modern Russian tubes- you are limited to Sovtek or EH as far as I know unless you plumb the depths-- and those can be counterfeit or late production. 

I say if you can’t hear the difference, you are probably fortunate. I think that tube is a dead end, given the difficulty of sourcing it.

I was able to acquire a full set of new matched tubes from ARC last week. (REF6SE) $1200 including shipping. I did have to wait a few months but my current set still have some good life in them. Good luck…!

I bought mine from Tube Depot and The Tube Audio store, same prices as Upscale, "matched" supposedly- though matching on these is not so important according to ARC and others (for power tubes it is though).

Having used both Tube Depot and The Tube Store in the past, I would highly recommend Brent Jessee at audiotubes.com.  

He is well respected and can give you his personal recommendations. 

Tubes should be available now from ARC. I have a Ref 5 SE and got tired of waiting for ARC to replenish their stock. They said they had to reject 90% of the tubes they were getting in. So I bought tubes from other vendors and lost the ARC "magic" sound. While hopefully waiting for those tubes to "burn in", ARC notified me that they finally had my tubes in stock so I ordered a set for spares. When they arrived I thought I'd switch them out with the ones I had previously purchased and right away the magic was back! So I am recommending ARC's matched sets, they are picky for a reason.