Elrog 300B vs Takatsuki 300B tubes

Although I have never heard the Elrogs (and I trust Charles' 'ears'), I am a fan of the Takatsukis.

I bought my Elrogs from True Audiophile. They distinguished themselves with excellent responsiveness and customer focus. I also heard the horror stories in their attempts at taking care of their customers who experienced tube failures. I can say they did everything they could to help me. Indeed they did all I could expect of them and more. It would seem the relationship between TA and Elrog ended on rather strained terms. It will be up to Elrog to meet market expectations with respect to both sound quality and product longevity vs. other premium 300B offerings. By all accounts, both the EML and Taks are not far behind the Elrogs.

I had a pair of Elrogs fail, and they supplied a replacement pair promptly. That is about all I could ask of Elrog. If this pair fails, I am quite sure I will move on,probably to the EMLs. On the other hand, I have no reservations about dealing with TA again. They proved themselves to be a truly customer focused vendor, in my estimation.

The Elrog tubes are very good, and we all want them to get the issues rectified. But at the end of the day, most of us won't be investing in tubes that only last a few months. And, Elrog also should nurture distributors of the caliber of True Audiophile. TA showed themselves to me to be a bunch of good eggs, in my opinion.

I had initially ordered my first pair of the Elrog tubes through Trueaudio file.com. They were very professional and responsive, they had a backlog of orders and could not get the tubes right away, they kept me informed of the situation. After a three or four week period of waiting they contacted me and stated they weren't sure when these tubes would be available via the next shipment. They graciously refunded my payment for the tubes, I have nothing but good things to say about them and I wish them well. I did subsequently order my tubes through tubes usa.com and George Lentz was wonderful, fast and very responsive. When my original pair of these tubes failed, George was very attentive and supportive and was very
helpful in getting me the replacement tubes. Based on my encounters with
both of these companies I can recommend both for their service and professionalism. The Elrog in terms of sound quality is brilliant. As I and others have stated on this thread before, longevity and reliability will be determined over the following months and hopefully years.
Charles,

Well, here's a Japanese site that sells Takatsukis. It's about $1,400 USD for a pair. However, they're middlemen so the warrantee doesn't apply to sales outside Japan. If something goes wrong during manufacturer's warrantee, they claim they will take it back and get replacement. Don't know how reputable these guys are. BTW, no refunds even if the tubes are DOA.

http://www.pricejapan.com/front/e_good_info.php?code=1255&category=17

I bought my Takatsuki pair direct from Japan with the 2 year warranty intact. My source was audio@amtrans.co.jp
, this was done in 2011. I believe Gary(Gsm18439) used them as well to buy his pair. I don't know for sure if they're still a source presently.