Upscale Audio -- Tubes and Reliability


Just wanted to get this out there for the benefit of A'gon members who own tube gear. All of my gear is ARC tube equipment.

I've been buying tubes from Kevin Deal - Upscale Audio for quite some time. Most recently, I bought a tube set for my amp. One of the KT-120 tubes didn't bias well. Kevin replaced the tube -- no questions asked!

In another case, the common carrier screwed up the delivery of a tube order. I left a VM for Kevin. He returned the call within 24 hours and made the situation right.

As an fyi, Upscale Audio burns in their tubes for 72 hours before testing and matching. Yes, there have been some glitches here and there, but so far Kevin has always come througth and made good.

Although I still buy some tubes from ARC, on rare occassion a few tubes blew shortly after purchase. Yes . . . ARC was 100% reliable in making good. Problem is ARC charges twice the price Upscale Audio charges.

Although I suppose one could argue that an advantage of buying from ARC is that if a tube goes bad and takes out some passives, ARC will pick up the tab. That may be true, but what good is that guarantee if you have to pack up your equipment and send it back to the factory.

In my case, I am fortunate because an ARC authorized tech lives near my house and makes house calls. True! As I reported before, one time a power tube blew and took out a bias resister. The tech came to my house and replaced the resister in about 45 minutes.

So for me, I guess the bottom line is this: if an UA tube goes bad and takes out some passives, is it worth the price savings to have the tech come out to fix the affected gear. So far, the price savings has justified the risk.

FWIW.
bifwynne
Gary (Hifigeek), quick Q re 6922 tubes. I own an ARC PH-7 phono pre, which uses four (4) 6922 tubes in the audio section. After how many hours of use shoulod those tubes be replaced?? I have heard various views of 6922 tube life in that application ranging from 4K to 10K hours.
Has anyone re-tubed a CAT JL3 Signature (KT120) from Upscale Audio?
I live in Sydney, Australia and I ordered a CAT SL1 Ren 5 months ago and haven't received it as yet. I don't want to think how long it will take to get 32 matched KT120 tubes. I would very much appreciate it if anyone could provide any feedback with regards to re-tubing CAT JL3 Sig from sources other than Ken Stevens's Convergent Audio.
Cheers,
Raz
Whatever ! that Kevin guy is no angel, years ago i went to an audio show and stopped by his booth and listened to his stuff. He convinced me that those glowing things on the PL amps will change my view on solid state high tech modern amps forever. And that the Sonus Faber Liuto was a great match for those ancient artifacts of the past.

Then the audio hell began as i had to purchase them for local upstart dealers who never hooked them PLs up or even the SF liuto, so i was thinking they were crap for sure and maybe "Uncle Kev" was using million dollar connects and spk wires or some special sauce that made those things glow brighter urging you to head towards the light, Shamonic deer stuff for sure. as they were just sitting there collecting dust.  All them made in China stuff always shines really bright before blowing up right?

So since i was there i was introduced to some really nice looking NAIM gear , which suited my wifes modern styling, and super cool looking USA built Anthony Gallo strada speakers with a REL sub that was looking wicked and made the sound larger than life, such detail and transparency, plastic was coming out.

But still looking like a deer in headlights, and remembering that bewitching glow and thinking that no way the republicans can stop the massive steamrollin economy of the US i decided to live it up and buy the lot.

fast forward 8-10 years later, HEGEL , AYON, DEVIALET, NAIM, YAMAHA, MICROMEGA NUMEROUS BIG BRAND Speakers, All collecting Dust and looking purrty, with the garage looking like speaker graveyard from hell, I kept going back to them glowing lights.

What kind of man destroys ones hobby in search of AudioNirvana !!!!
why kill my flamboyant money spending thrills with just 1 stroke. 
But Alas i will have the last laugh soon, in this terrible nightmare of things that glow in the dark, i can see a replacement that might finally take the pole position of this long nightmare of glowing lights. 

My system that i always come back to after all these years PL mono 7s , sonus faber liuto, and in 2010 called up upscale for a replacement pre amp as the older PL POS 3 which i had listened for years, going back and forth to up and lower the volume had no remote !! WTH what was i thinking, asked uncle Kev between Manley Jumbo and PL pre Dialogue, he had the audacity to suggest the PL prologue Premium Pre , a step down, which at the time was only like a couple hundred less than the top of the line Dialogue, stating that it was good enough for me, and it offered system synergy, and with that saved cash to git some tubes at a later date as the Economy under the Bush wasnt looking good. 

Opps back to the replacement , i truly belive now that the only upgrade is another PL HP amp , and again will this be another waste of money as that China POS is still running strong and has never burnt out a tube and somehow they all are going strong- witchcraft for sure as what burns and never dies??? PL GEAR FOR SURE!

THANKS UPSCALE !  
I am getting ready to purchase a PL from UA. I've Ben writing the store numerous times. Each time, I get a quick response with all the info I'm looking for. The pre sale customer servic
e has been wonderful. Now , I need to get that amp ordered