AYON KT-SX Tube quality (failure rate?)


I bought a new/demo ("was only played at CES this Jan 2016...") AYON TRITON III from the US distributer this January.

Within 3 weeks 2 of the 8 KT88-SX tubes either expired or the amp complained about the tube. The vendor said: "90 days on new tubes..." ...which meant I was out of luck given his logic. New tubes cost around $180 or so.

I have either spoken with other Ayon owners on this or other forums, in private (after posting about Ayon) or when seeking to buy these tubes from them.

Guess what?

They have had the same failure rate.

Please weigh in: I am relatively new (1 year) to tube gear and have no idea if I should expect more monthly replacements. (I bought 3 matched quads of new Gold Lion KT88s, but the Ayons sound quite good to me, I just am appalled at the failure rates I experienced or heard about.)
128x128vicweast
@ghosthouse Thanks, yes indeed... I’ll let you know what more I find out. I am extremely pleased with the sound of this amplifier. If I could get my hands on some technical info regarding the circuit, I would not be so tempted to look inside... It is extremely heavy at over 120 lbs ...It’s weight is it’s first line of defense against the curious engineer who can lift 120 but who also seems to regret doing so afterward. :-)

Vic,

I ran without any failures Gold Lion KT88s in my Rogue M180 mono blocks for the 3-4 years that I had that system.  After several years one tube was starting to weaken as evidenced by a thinning of the silver coating in the top of the tube after about three years of use.  I have also used Gold Lion KT88 tubes in my Ayon Triton 1 without any issues for the 2-3 years that I have owned that piece - an amplifier that I truly like a lot and that unless I ever have an opportunity to move up in the Ayon line is an amp that I intend to keep from here on out.  Finally, it's unfortunate that some have had bad experiences with USATubeAudio.  My experience with them was quite to my satisfaction, as has been the two Ayon pieces (Triton 1 integrated and S-5 media player) that are the heart of my system.

I do not have any experience with the tubes you mentioned in your original post but would certainly agree with jond's and ghosthouse's previous comments.

Hope all works out well,
Cheers,

John
@reynolds853 
I hear you! I thought I would sell my Rogue Cronus Magnum when I got the Ayon Triton III, but so far I can't seem to let go. They are both excellent but very different amps with different design philosophies. I love buying American (Rogue) when I can, but the thing is: I was born in Austria, I am an software/systems engineer and the Ayon definitely speaks to that!
Vic,

The Cronus Magnum is a nice amp.  Our local shop is a Rogue dealer so I've had lots of opportunities to hear them.  If it would fit I would consider one for my office system.

John

Rogue definitely brings goods. Bang for the buck, but a well defined bang with all the emotion and detail... ;-)