Elrog 300b's for sale. Your thoughts?


I noticed this morning an add for the new Elrogs.   I and many others on the forum ran the experiment when the Elrogs were initially launched.   We found the tubes to be superb sonically, but woefully unreliable.  In fact, the early failure rate on those tubes was apparently 100%.  I and others received replacements that were hand selected for suitability in our particular amps.  In fact one individual had 3 pairs fail.  In my case, I went so far as to purchase a PS audio power plant, having been assured that limiting incoming voltage to 115V would ensure reasonable lifetime for the Elrogs.  Two days ago, one of my replacements failed, after having been nursed along carefully.  Honestly, I doubt the tubes had 600 hours on them.  So the Psvane T1s went back in and I began the period of mourning for my deceased Elrogs.  This morning I awake to the siren song of an ad from a reputable dealer who is announcing availability of the new improved Elrogs with a 1 year warranty.   My initial reaction was, "I don't think so.  Someone else can run the $1200 experiment.  Burned once and lesson learned."  But here is the problem.  If all of Elrogs former customers take that approach, the new Elrog will also fail even if the tubes are good for 10000 hours, simply because no one will buy them.    The tubes are so good that it would be a tragedy if that happened.  So the question to all of you who have already been down this road is this?  What would it take for you to give these tubes a try again?
brownsfan
Hi Bill,
It good see a post from you, it reminds me of the of the good old days on this forum 😊. To be fair you just might find the Elrog superior and may prefer it based on your own comparison. The Elrog certainly is a excellent sounding tube with its undeniable strengths. You could find the gap between the Elrog and EML XLS perhaps a bit wider than jcarcopo or myself.

As I wrote above when all is considered sonically across the full spectrum the XLS does acquit itself very well.Bill some say that the Psvane W.E Replica 300b is an excellent tube and probably a bit more organic and midrange centric relative to the EML XLS.

I don’t envision Elrog (or any tube manufacturer) producing a surplus of their tubes and dumping them here at ultra low cost, so I believe we’re safe from tariffs 😊😊.
Charles
Charles, I'm sure the EML is going to be just fine.  Its been a year since my 2nd set of Elrogs burned out.  That should be enough time that a comparison of the Elrogs and EMLs from me will be meaningless.   Over the years I've learned that we seem to hear the same things, and value the same things, so I have no inclination to run a very expensive experiment to ensure that that still holds true.   I do think that the Elrog design offers much to recommend itself, and I want them to succeed and continue to roll out new products.   But, they got off to a rough start, and I suspect they are going to have to offer something better than diminishing returns at premium prices to fully realize their potential as a company.   BTW, I am really enjoying the Franks in the downstairs system.   Nice having the luxury of a good SET system and a good OTL system based on the M-60's.  
Bill,
Well you do have 2 very fine audio systems to enjoy when some struggle to develop just one. Of course you know how I value your listening impressions and perspectives. What are the essential differences (If any) you hear between the 2 systems playing the same music. I realize that one uses full range speakers (Super Victory) and the other monitors on stands (Triumph Extreme). If must be quite nice to have both a first rate SET mono blocks and OTL mono block amplifiers for enjoying your classical music library. Have you tried the M 60s with the Triumph Extremes?
Charles
@charles1dad   I'm ecstatic that people are getting such longevity out of the EML tubes.  I want to possibly try their 300B Meshplate, any thoughts?

@brownsfan You're quite welcome. Yeah I can't see spending that much on another pair for the subtle differences that I'm hearing, but I do like rolling between them and EML just for the change of pace.  It's nice to have choices.
@charles1dad  I guess I'll find out if the meshplates are an improvement.  I just ordered a pair from George at TubeUSA.