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ARC VS110 tubes

I will be changing my tubes on my VS110 in the near future. Unit is 1.5 years old and bought new from an ARC reseller. Should I buy factory tubes from my ARC dealer or the same model from some other tube vendor (such as TheTubeStore.com). I was told that factory tubes are perfectly balanced for my amp... not so with after market vendors. BTW I have no interest in tube rolling at this time.

I noticed that when buying from ARC tubes are more than twice the price than online vendors, why is that so?

Thanks for your reply
redsectora
4 responses Add your response
samhar
1,048 posts
 
I was told ARC is extremely careful matching tubes (read high rejection rate 20 good tubes out of 100) if you don't have a tester to check what your getting they may be the safest bet. They make their money on electronics, I think tubes are more of a customer service, good tubes keep the customers happy with the gear. I was under the impression the stock tubes are good for up to 3000 hrs.
weiserb's avatar
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weiserb
473 posts
 
ARC does some testing for noise etc before selling tubes. They are an audio manufacturer not a tube dealer, so they charge more if you got to them for tubes. For less expensive tested tubes I use upscaleaudio.com

There are cheaper tube dealers out there but Kevin at upscale is pretty thorough in testing
redsectora OP
9 posts
 
Thanks Elevick,

I'm probably closer to 1500 hours at this time.... heavy listener I guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know why ARC tubes are so expensive?
elevick
2,636 posts
 
You should have your tubes tested before replacing. 1.5 years is not that old. You should get 1000+hours out of them.
As far as matching goes, getting matched pairs or quads of tubes will always cost more but not twice as much. Try:
thetubestore.com
upscaleaudio.com
echohifi.com
tubeworld.com pricey
tubeman.com can be pricey
tubesandmore.com inexpensive but still good
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