ARC Ref 3: Tung-Sol 6550 in power supply?

Barry, I ordered a SED "Winged C" 6550 from Upscale Audio. Kevin Deal called me after the order was placed suggesting I pick another tube because he wasn't satisfied his current batch of "Winged C" 6550s were reliable. Ergo, the Tung Sol 6550.

I expect to receive the ARC 6550 WE in a day or so. I'll swap it in and report back. In the meantime, I'm using the TS 6550. It works ok.

Also liked the stock ARC Sovteks better than the NOS Reflektor 6H30-DRs in the power supply.

Let's hope Kevin's current batch isn't the one I've been sampling over the past 2 years. I've bought at least 10 pairs from Upscale! There aren't a lot of reasonably priced and trustworthy sources for these.

I've bought quite a few cryo'ed Sovtek 6H30pi tubes from Kevin. They work just fine. This is the first time I heard about issues with the SED "Winged C" 6550s and I've bought quite a few from Kevin over the years. So I wouldn't worry.

I seem to recall that Kevin told me some time ago that he sourced a bunch of the "original" issue SED "Winged C" 6550s in Europe or Transylvania or someplace like that. As you probably know, the old Svetlana (sp?) plant burned down. So no more "original" "Winged C" 6550s anymore.

Here's my issue. My ARC Ref 150 amp eats KT-120 tubes every 2000 hours. ARC charges $100 per tube. Ouch! Kevin and most other vendors charge half that amount. As you know, Kevin does a heck of a job burning in and testing his tubes. And so does ARC.

My dilemna is the matching process. ARC matched power tubes have always been an easy drop in. They bias easily and chnage bias evenly. By contrast, Kevin's match KT-120s are not as consistent. Some pairs match pretty closely and other pairs not so closely. I don't know why. So I may have to go back to ARC.

Cheers.

I'm affraid you are getting what you have paid for.