Also if I want to describe a sound as mystifying, mind-bending, intergalactic out of body experience or whatever, that's my prerogative. That's the way I experienced it and it's my attempt to put my experience in English words. Hi-fi audio listening is a very personal, subjective experience that can vary from person to person, and is influenced by their own hearing abilities and even mental state and emotions. Have you ever seen me or even Howie or UT talk down on someone who has expressed they had enjoyed listening to something? I'm sure not aware of that happening and if so that sure wouldn't be very in keeping with the community spirit.
Speaking of community spirit, IMO everything has been driven by the Elise threads and their two quirks: the endless pursuit of the perfect tube combo, and the way we express ourselves about its' sound. For those of you who have been around since the beginning, especially the first Elise thread, you will see countless examples of so-called hyperbole and unreasonable metaphors to explain how great the Elise sounds. But I for one find those the highlight of the Elise threads - using bizarre metaphors, poems and even gross exaggerations to describe the sound of it. I don't find this to be 'unrealistic' or hype, but rather entertaining, helpful or even funny. It's our personality!
Next, how is anybody going to say that my 6x power tubes is so outlandish while there are others also with 6 power tubes on a massive adapter with external P/S and non-stock drivers? Seems a little biased to me. My whole pursuit of tube experimentation was from the pioneers of this thread who keep pushing the envelope - I'm just following in you guys' footsteps, and have not done anything that's electrically harmful at all.
The point is one of common forum guidelines: respect each other's opinions and don't make statements without proof.
While I admire your creativity and descriptions it also has the negative effect of making someone who is interested in the Elise wonder if the shipping product is "half-baked" due to all the so called better sounding combinations of tubes as another person noted a few days ago. And since many of the so called "great" or "better than the original" combinations are done with adapters from a third party then one has to wonder if all of these combinations are so great, why doesn't FA just sell them as upgrades there by removing the issue of using non-approved adapters?
One thing that would help someone like me would be to give a point of reference when making statements of sound quality, if you are only saying that x combination of tubes is better than y combination in the Elise then it mean nothing to me since I don't know what even the stock sound is like compared to another amp. This is why when my friend said that he had a chance to listen to the Elise and roll some tubes with his friends I took more interest in the Elise since he compared it with other amps such as the WA2 and Liquid Glass so I have a better idea (reference points) of where the Elise stands.
As for the warranty issue, just saying that if one person used non-standard tubes and didn't have any problems but you used the same combination and now have problems doesn't negate the fact that both were using non-standard/approved tubes and IMO should not be covered under warranty since the device was used outside of its original design parameters.