Kevin gets the

Kevin still has a number of current Cary components listed, on his website. Dennis Had retired from Cary in Oct, 2009. Often; when the founder of a company retires, the quality/conscientiousness of same unfortunately suffers. I hate to think that's happened to Cary Audio. I love my(modded) SLM-100's!

Based solely on my experience with their tubes; the quality, testing procedures, knowledge base and customer service, of Upscale, are second to none. Kevin's attitude, at times, less so. Whether he has the juice, via his many ad $$$, to coerce TAS? Can't say/hope not. They HAVE reviewed most of what PrimaLuna has built in the past, though.

Mr M- Had those tubes been defective; they would, no doubt, have been replaced. I could be wrong, but- I don't believe any tube vendors offer a return, based on customer's tastes, or the way the tubes(NOS or new, anyway) sound in their system. At least; I've never heard of one. The tubes would then have to be sold as, "used." Vendors would not stay in business for very long, if they had that policy.

YEP! With Kevin; price is a, "No-Fly Zone!" I've only ever dealt with him on octets of power tubes(since 1994). When he was carrying NOS 6550 Sylvanias; his prices were not out of line. Ditto with his new 6550 Winged 'C's. A year ago, I called about an eight year old NOS Clearaudio Sigma Wood(not a highly regarded cart, anyway), for which he was asking close to original list. Very friendly conversation, until I hinted at price flexibility(based on age). Glad I purchased an octet of NOS, 70's, 6550C GE's elsewhere, before that call. But, hey: It IS his business, after all!