2. amps-preamps
  3. 127565-491

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
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,234 posts
 
Hi Bill,
Well I did indeed have 3 failed attempts with the Elrog 300b and excellent support from George at tubesusa.com, the tube failures sure weren’t his fault. This is a classic example of superb sound vs product unreliability. No doubt about it, the Elrog was stellar in my amplifier.

Who wants to be a 1200.00 dollar beta tester? Good question bfr. It’s interesting how we are able to accommodate change over time. I returned to my EML XLS an excellent 300b that I truly enjoy listening to (this is an exceptionally robust and reliable tube). It’s only with direct comparison where I can say that the Elrog is a bit more nuanced and organic thus a bit more emotional. The gap between them is small but detectable. The EML XLS is as dynamic, perhaps more so. Honestly in my particular SET amplifier both tubes (along with the Takatsuki) are wonderful music conveyors.

I’d need to know precisely what has been done to improve the durability of the Elrog. A full year warranty for a tube does suggest a high degree of confidence from the manufacturer. Bill I’ll say that I am curious about this new and "improved " version. I’ll read the article posted by Al. I feel no sense of urgency to try the Elrog at the moment.
Charles
brownsfan OP
1,508 posts
 
Charles, thanks for you comments.  I agree.  While a 1 year warranty may be more or less  standard, in view of the history of the tube, one might have expected a longer warranty as a statement of confidence.   I am also troubled by what I read in the material provided by Al, where the statement runs along the lines of correcting the issue that caused failure in some amps.  That sounds to me like they are still in denial.  The information that I have from my dealer is that the failure rate for his customers was 100% in a variety of amps.  He did not have a single customer that did not experience premature failure.  Unless I see more, I'm going to have to sit this one out and go with the EML tube.  I want the new Elrog to succeed, but I don't need any more weasel words, and I'm not placing a $1200 bet on something that looks like a long shot from my frame of reference.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
I would jump on 4 pairs and pray really i would pass big time and get some real tubes.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,371 posts
 
Is the sound THAT much better than other brands?  I had issues with tube stuff and have been using s/s trouble free for many years.
mikelavigne
2,148 posts
 

November 2015 i purchased a pair of Elrog 300b’s for my Lampizator Golden Gate dac. i used them for 30 days on the 300b setting and loved how they sounded. then one of them got weak. i called Gary at tubes USA where i bought them and a week later he sent me a replacement pair. feedback to me from Gary who was told directly from Elrog, instructed me to use the 101d/45 setting on my Lampi GG going forward.

i installed the replacement Elrog 300b’s in mid-January of this year, 11 months ago and listen for 3-5 hours a day to them since then without any issue at all. still going strong.

I preferred them to Psvane 101d WE replicas, Psvane 300b WE replicas, and a number of NOS 45’s......all of which I still own but have not used since I installed the Elrogs. and yes, they are a cut above those others to my ears.

very happy with the outstanding performance and reliability since then and would highly recommend them assuming you get good advice on the context of how they are used.

More to discover