Tubes & Audio Research Corp.

I do not think you are better off buying tubes from the OEM. All OEMs buy their tubes new (versus NOS) to ensure availability for production and repalcement. Perhaps they may test to a tighter tolerance, but this certainly does not justify a 3X price increase. There are excellent dealers that can offer the same service, at lower price and even offer professional advice if you want to try different tube types. I highly recommend Kevin Deal of Upscale Audio (www.upscaleaudio.com). Michael

I know what you mean. Your question is specific to ARC, isn't it? ARC states that they have a record of each and every unit that they have ever produced and match the tubes specifically for that unit by pulling the specific records. I do not know whether it is a marketing ploy, however, ARC does some pretty intense testing and quality control from what I am told. I just do not know if it is worth the huge difference in price. I am also very interested in hearing others thoughts.

My guess is that it isn't worth paying the price. ARC guarantees their tubes like all others for 90 days (except Triode Electronics, 6 months) Certainly their quality control and testing is probably to a higher standard but I certainly could not justify paying the prices they are asking. I recently purchase new Svetlana Output tubes for my D-115 Mk2 and have had no problems. Maybe the ARC tubes are better test wise, but does it really justify paying the additional cost, I don't think so. I also owned an SP-6A for many years. I NEVER purchased replacements through ARC and never had a problem. I did however use vintage tubes with that unit. Still cheaper than going through ARC.