WANTED: Help stuck in tube rolling insanity

Do you need matched tubes and aside from microphonics what sound quality are you looking for. I am using regular Seimans Rorher right now late production. You are right prices are higher than ever. I have had some pleasant surprises such as an equipment pull amperex white label. I bought the Mil spec Mullard CV2493 from an agon tube dealer and am delighted with it its a drop in for the ECC88 (in fact it's just designated E88CC -01, it gives a much cleaner signal than regular Mullards). I don't know what your definition of expensive is but I agree seeing these nine pins selling as CCas,7308s, Pich waist etc for $2-300 a set is ridiculous. My tube guru in England told me that all that stuff was absurd and more collecting ego than improved sound quality. I live on the east coast but if you want send me an e-mail.

I had a Cary SLI-80. I ordered a set of Amperex 7308, paid $65.00 a piece for them. They did not make a differnce to my ears. I went back to the stock Chinese, all is fine.

btw, i looked up on the arc archive database....that units takes ALOT of tubes !!!!!

Call up Leonard at ARC to find out which pair(s) of tubes will make the most difference first. The Sonic Frontier Line 3 also uses like 12 tubes, but just one pair of NOS tubes at the input stage will make up 90% of the difference. Two of my friends are using the Line 3 and they both use a pair of NOS 6922s + 4 pairs of Electro-Harmonix 6922s. (the other pair are power regulating tubes) This might be the case for the SP-10 as well. Then you won't have to spend $$$$ for 12 NOS tubes.

Have you try using tube dampers to battle the microphonic issue? The cheapest option would be teflon coated silicone o-rings from McMaster. (50 for $8.50) Others have tried Herbie's HAL-O with good results ($10/each). ARC's 3M ring also works well, but they stick to the tube and will not come off.

If you want low noise NOS, you will have to pay premium and get them from reputable dealers. Of course, they charge an arm and a leg. But if low noise, non-microphonic is your top priority, current production tubes (EH, JJ, EI) are your best bet.

FrankC