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5.62.49.129
They don't really explain what 'top 10%' and that's a rather steep upcharge.To flip the equation: How bad are the other 90% of tubes in relation to warrant such a discount?
KP
Edits: 04/10/20Follow Ups:
I just want to chime in to say that there are tube sellers that sponsor and contribute to these forums. Good quality tested old stock and new manufacture items can be had along with feedback on each. It doesn't constrain you to one particular brand and may open your eyes to what you are missing. Take a look at the home page to see your options.
It sucks to get old. It really sucks to get old and bitter.
I tried the "Western Glow Tube Services" link on the page you referred to, but it's dead. Uh-oh.
Yea...really. To be honest I never bothered to check them out myself. I tried a Google search with no luck either. I hope we haven't lost a site sponsor.
I'm pretty well stocked with enough tubes to last me so I haven't been shopping for some time. My last acquisitions were from McShane Design as Jim has always been a great dealer and knowledgeable resource.
It sucks to get old. It really sucks to get old and bitter.
as was her husband 'Grant' before his passing.That some of the Chinese tubes she sells have 'grading' has nothing to do with her and many of the other domestic tube dealers (even some on your approved list' sell tubes based of 'matching' and 'grading'.
Edits: 04/12/20
Have bought many tubes from Rachel and have always had the greatest respect for her knowledge and professionalism.All tubes have been great.
Rachel's really great. GF is a good source for Chinese tubes. I've bought from them, and also like many other tube sellers too, but for different things.It helps to have a tube tester. Lots of "NOS" is older than we are. I'm no spring chicken.
Edits: 04/12/20
not too many sellers of those.
Anyway, looks like Grant Fidelity is just a portal for Psvane as the tube section directs directly to the Psvane site and orders are placed from Psvane.
KP
If you are not buying the select tubes, you might as well buy them on Ebay.
I always hated that grade "A" and grade "B" crap. Now it's "top 10%" is it. Why do they do this? A tube either meets its design specifications or it doesn't. So you have to pay extra to get a set that (hopefully) meets spec? What's the story with the other 90% of production?
Why do only high priced Chinese tube makers do this? Is it because almost all production is sold, whether it meets spec or not?
Edits: 04/11/20
I've always had good luck with the tubes I've bought from Rachel at GF. That said, I've noticed an uptick in prices especially on the "premium" offerings. This drove me to buy a quad of Shuguang Natural Sound KT88-T's from an Ebay seller.(not cheap either btw) Arrived in a timely manner and beautifully packaged. Probably the best sounding 88's I've had in my system. That was until last night when one of them failed.....this with less than a month of use and very low hours. So I guess I could say it's been safer to buy from GF, but that's just me. As always YMMV.
There was a fire near the Shuguang factory and no tubes will be produced until next year. There may be also lot of tubes that should have been culled being sold now.
Thx for the tip. Yeah, I'm going to have to write this one off to experience. Fortunately, I can try them as driver tubes in my 845 amp where they'll "possibly" be less stressed. Back to my old reliable Gold Lion 88's for now.
Well, if their Chinese tubes are like Chinese COVID 19 tests, at least 30% are trash.
More seriously, what additional testing is done to cull out that 10%? The bump in price is probably mostly the additional labor/time involved in testing. Whether it's worth it or not is more subjective. I tend to spring for the good stuff for phono tubes, and after that I buy selected for low noise only. In my situation, I use mostly small signal tubes. Nobody offers tested/selected tubes for my servo-amps, so I have to test my own.
I can't find what you are talking about on their site (link?), but Brent Jesse has grade level pricing and Mike Elliot did the same when Alta Vista was around. But there were fairly good descriptions of each level.
Cheers!
Jonesy
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
Ah, I see, when you got to the shop.grantfidelity.com site
if you click on the Shop by Category/Vacuum Tubes on the left menu
it actually redirects to the Psvane website.
The option on the drop down, towards bottom of page.
KP
This is from their site.
By the time you read to the end, it essentially claims the "best of the best" will last longer and sound better.
I doubt they would sound ~25% better, but if they did last that much longer, fair enough.
Phono and line tubes benefit most from premium selection in my experience. Output tubes shouldn't be as critical, though not familiar with SE power tubes.
Cheers!
Jonesy
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
KP
I bought my 2A3 Acme matched pair from Grant. I really appreciated the chance to buy "select" tubes. Have not had any problems with them and break in was a breeze, but my Audio friend in LA had a brutal time with his Acme break in and told me twice that he was going to send them back before they finally settled down. These are the best 2A3s you can buy other than AVVTs and some other that are rare as hen's teeth. If you have a DNA Stratus or Stellaris, A pair of Acmes, a big boy EML rectifier and a RT select 6N1P input tube are all you need.
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