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
George is is a honest and straightforward person.  I bough my EMLs and Elrogs from him. He firmly stood by me and provided excellent customer service during my Elrog failure episodes. 
Charles 
Charles,
You ask two great questions for which I have less than clear answers.  First of all, I have not evaluated the M-60's driving the TE II's.  Getting the SVIIs dialed in upstairs was a bit of a chore, and moving them in and out of the room is a considerable project.  Similarly, optimal positioning of the TEII's upstairs would likely require a fairly significant investment of effort, without which, a valid comparison could not be drawn.  Moving the M-60's downstairs is also not going to work.  There is just not enough room for them in the area in which the downstairs system electronics resides to accommodate them.  So that experiment is pretty involved and probably won't do more than satisfy curiosity.  As for the essential differences between the two systems playing the same music, it is pretty much what you might expect.  The TEII's are the best monitors I have heard (although I can't say I've auditioned scores of monitors), and they mate superbly with the Frankensteins.  I do not perceive that the Franks struggle at all to drive the TEIIs, based on the absence of objectionable levels of distortion.  While it must be stated that the source and preamp downstairs are not in the same class as the ModWright Sony HAPZ1 and Coincident Statement Line Stage present in the upstairs system, both source and pre are good enough to convey the essential strengths of a 300B DHT based system.  That dash of euphonic 2nd order distortion, absent in the M60's, can make for mighty sweet listening.  The TEIIs driven by the Frankensteins are going to be pretty hard to beat in my book for Schubert Lieder, violin sonatas, and the like.  It is a really good "sooth the savage beast" system perfect for decompression after a day of frustration.  As you might expect, the M-60/SVII pairing has a clear  edge with larger scale works, especially when there are large swings in the dynamics.  When it is time for Mahler or German Opera, it is time to move upstairs.  Upstairs has the advantage of dedicated circuits, room treatments, and superior ancillary equipment, so this is not entirely due to differences in the two amps.  As you know, I found the Franks to be not up to the task of driving the SVII's.  No amount of effort on my part could make this work.  So I've got two respectable systems that serve me well.  Don't ask for a Sophie's Choice here.  I love both systems, and won't give up either.  I suspect that if you had both amps as options in your room and your system, you might feel the same, but might have an easier time sticking with the Franks if you had to choose one. 
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the thoughtful and clear description of your 2 audio systems.
I can understand not wanting to move equipment around if it isn’t a simple task. Your summary of the 2 respective amplifiers is on the mark. I had an opportunity to hear the Frankenstein and Atma-sphere MA-1 head to head in a friend’s system who had easily driven speakers. Essentially it is 
2nd order harmonics(just a dash as you wrote) versus the 3rd order harmonics character of the MA-1.

The Frankenstein came off a bit fuller tone and harmonically richer.
The MA-1 a bit leaner and faster. Overall subtle destinations, both were exceptionally open,transparent and very lively. You have two excellent power amplifiers with their individual sonic signature.
Charles
Autospell strikes again,  in the final paragraph should be overall subtle "distinctions" not destinations. 
@brownsfan Do you have any threads where you discuss the amp choices for your SV's? I bought some coincident PREs and am trying to figure out how to amplify them (or whether to keep my Franks and find an alternative speaker). It sounds like maybe I'm experiencing some similar issues (I pair the Franks with super eclipse iiis).