[isquirrel]

  Lucky you!  If you're interested in selling the Psvane WE300 replica I am interested in buying, I have the WE300B reissued and simply curious on how the replica compares.

You have one of the best tube collections on Head-Fi, be worth your while checking out the Takatsuki's 

 

[TonyNewman]

 
You have one of the best tube collections on Head-Fi, be worth your while checking out the Takatsuki's 

 
+1.
 
Quite a bit of daylight between my previous setup (SERPs and Brimars) and the TA300B/TA274B setup. The Taks are very, very special tubes. I feel happy to say that after only about 3 hours with them last night (and they are not yet at their best).

 

[Angelbelow]

  Takatsukis have arrived and are now at home in my WA5, warming up.
 
For those that haven't had the pleasure, these tubes are works of beauty. My crude camera work doesn't do them justice, but I will try:
 
TA300B
 

 
 
 
TA274B
 

 
Once I have a few weeks of use with these babies I will post some thoughts on how they compare with my previous best 300B + rectifier setup (SERPs + Brimars).
 
Happy Days

 
 
Awesome!

 

[Silent One]

  Takatsukis have arrived and are now at home in my WA5, warming up.
 
For those that haven't had the pleasure, these tubes are works of beauty. My crude camera work doesn't do them justice, but I will try:
 
 
Once I have a few weeks of use with these babies I will post some thoughts on how they compare with my previous best 300B + rectifier setup (SERPs + Brimars).
 

Congrats on your new addition! Your photos still allowed us to share in your joy. 

 

[Badas]

   
 
Awesome!

 
Yeah, They look mind blowing good.

 

[fhuang]

  Takatsukis have arrived and are now at home in my WA5, warming up.
 
For those that haven't had the pleasure, these tubes are works of beauty. My crude camera work doesn't do them justice, but I will try:
 
TA300B
 

 
 
 
TA274B
 

 
Once I have a few weeks of use with these babies I will post some thoughts on how they compare with my previous best 300B + rectifier setup (SERPs + Brimars).
 
Happy Days

 
 
 
drool

 

[TonyNewman]

   
 
 
drool

 
And they sound better than they look

 
Nothing else I own (or have heard) compares to these tubes. (disclaimer - I have never heard vintage or re-issue WE300B, Elrog, WE274B, WE422A, U52 or metal base GZ34).
 
If you have an amp that can take these tubes you owe it to yourself to try them sometime.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

Unlike buying used or "NOS" (who really knows...) WE tubes, there are no risks in buying Takatsuki tubes from a reputable seller like us.  We test every tube we sell to ensure it meets or exceeds our expectations before it is shipped to our customers.  
 

 

[TonyNewman]

I wasn't sure Woo sold these babies - good to know

 
Do you also sell the TA274B?

 

[bpcans]

I wasn't sure Woo sold these babies - good to know

Do you also sell the TA274B?

My question too Tony Newman. Because what I really need is another 274B rectifier, preferably one that costs a million dollars and comes in a pretty wooden box from across the ocean.

 

[isquirrel]

@ Woo Audio, can you let us know the prices you are charging for these please?
 
Do you have the rights to be able to see them in any country you choose?

 

[Badas]

  @ Woo Audio, can you let us know the prices you are charging for these please?
 
Do you have the rights to be able to see them in any country you choose?

Hey Simon,
 
Whats the latest with the Elrog's ? did you get things resolved are the rectifying the tube situation?

 

[isquirrel]

  Hey Simon,
 
Whats the latest with the Elrog's ? did you get things resolved are the rectifying the tube situation?

That's a curly one, I don't know if there has been any resolution at the manufacturer level. Last I heard was that the Bases were an issue as they are inexpensive Chinese ones, and the the tolerances on them are such that the pins often do not line up precisely as they do with say a Takatsuki. I have had 3 failures with the Elrog's, all for different reasons. One lost vacuum, the other started to sputter and carry on during use (which I got a video of) and the other just died. It was suggested at that time that I was the only one having issues. Clearly that has not been the case. It has also been suggested that the sockets on the Woo's do not allow for any movement of the Tube pins thereby excabating the alignment issue with the bases and pins. The distributor here knows his stuff and he spotted the issue and we both questioned the continued use of the existing brass bases. It has been suggested that not only do the bases have a potential pin alignment issues, they also dod allow for any flex and this causes strain on the tube and therefore sooner or later leads to failure.
 
If anyone recall the original Elrog's had black bases and we can only hope that they return to those. I understand that one entire batch of tubes failed. I do not know if this extends to other tubes manufactured by Elrog or only the 300B.
 
The distributor picked up both my sets of tubes 2 weeks ago, one set was brand new unopened and the other set one had failed earlier and had been replaced by a used tube at my request so I knew it was functional. I have been told I will be receiving a refund. When I do I will let you all know. The distributor has stood behind the product and has good experience with tubes as they are also the AudioNote importer here.. This gives me confidence that these issues will get resolved however as I say nothing has been confirmed by the manufacturer officially. 
 
This is all a disappointing episode as the Elrog's do sound good, and are very much a welcome addition to the list of new production tubes, they sound good and probably could be ta viable alternative to the Takatsuki's. However they need to get the reliability issues sorted. I understand they have been less issues in traditional 2 channel amps, probably because those guys tend not to tube roll as much as we do 

. None the less the tubes should be rugged enough to withstand being handled and tube rolled by users.
 
I will ask the distributor if he is prepared to comment here as I know several of you have the tubes, I feel partly responsible as I talked them up, apologies to anyone having issues. I have heard several rumours re their status in the US so it would be helpful if either the manufacturer or a distributor would comment here and let us all know what is going on. There are several sonic questions to be answered also, I was told that the Elrog's had excellent bas, in my setup I find that they have the weakest bass of any new production 300B I own, they do have a lovely euphonic clarity to them and their tonal balance i best decried (again in my system) as being a little thin in the mid range. They do have the underpinnings of an excellent tube if they can get these issues sorted out.
 
Hope that answers the question until we get an official response. The Australian distributor is AudioNote AUS, www.audionote.com.au contact Bryan, I won't post his number here for privacy reasons. 
 
Simon

 

[longbowbbs]

Simon...I just spent some time at LH Labs with the Da Vinci 2 and what is ATM the Sire.....Fun day!

 

[isquirrel]

 

Hey, good to hear from you.
 
Very jealous, any impressions? I have been talking with Larry a fair bit in the past few months. 
 
Which version of the DaVinci MK2 did you listen to, you know there are 2 levels? There were going to be 3 levels until some common sense developed. Okay to do that with a cheaper DAC (perhaps) but not with a statement DAC. I worked out the price here for the Extreme version would be close to $70,000 or more if the dollar keeps dropping. I was about to send mine back but have since loaned it out to a friend of mine while I play with the Kalliope, which has been a real surprise and slap in the face for me as I originally generalised about all Sabre DAC's, I could not have been more wrong. 
 
TBH I have been concerned about their stability, given whats going on with the delayed shipments from the Crowdfunding campaign. Did things look healthy when you were there? The Sire is going to be US $120,000 in its base config and $146,000 for the Extreme package. It uses a C3G tube in the output stage. Did Larry have that working, were you able to listen to it?
 
All the best