Anyone have issues dealing with Sophia Electric ?

Responded on AA.

Not me. Quite the contrary.

So far I have had four different failures in four different shipments. Three of the Royal Princess 300b and one KT88 Grade "A", which retails for an astronomical price.

Sophia will always blame failures on shipping, the customer, or the amplifier. Bar none. It's getting irritating. Very irritating to deal with them. So far they have been good at replacing the first three failed 300B but it has been several weeks already and I have not received a refund for the last return, which was paid for by us.

I have a very disappointed customer now that is getting very antsy about his new mono blocks and preamp due to this recurring tube problem. Of course we may very well loose the sale due to this if we cannot find a good replacement.

Unfortunately the sound from the Sophia tubes is unsurpassed in our experience. I wish they were as robust physically as their wonderful sound reproduction.

As you might imagine this is a very precarious position for a manufacturer that is selling this brand as an upgrade backed by promises from another supplier that is obviously having serious problems with quality control and denying it.

Maybe it's time to make some changes. Too bad... they were going in the right direction sound wise.

Good Luck!

I have had good luck with 6SN7 tubes from Sophia, which are also very good. I have a friend who purchased the royal princess 300b's and a couple of 6SL7's. The 300B's were great, the 6SL7's were garbage. Sophia needs to do better for the money they are charging.

Some people really like the black treasure 300b's better than the Sophias. I think they better get their act together or people are going to go elsewhere.