Buy tubes from Audio Research or not

Jea48, I do feel badly about those folks that have had a bad experience with Kevin. I guess the hassles he has with some amps is not worth it for him. I have no affiliation with Kevin except as a purchaser of tubes. I have to say I don't understand his logic because most business people do not refuse a sale, especially when it can be quite substantial. I would say that this shows that Kevin does have integrity even if it comes across as somewhat distorted.

Jea48, I agree with your last post. Taters could have gotten a little nasty as well but, for K.Deal to hang up on him.

I wasn't aware of K. Deal's statement on his website about ARC retubing until you pointed it out. That makes me feel a little better but still no excuse for being rude to a potential life long customer.

I'm in business myself and the customer is 99 & 3/4% always right. We sell maintience supplies to industry and with the economy like it is we're feeling the crunch. We can't afford to be pissing off customers. In our business, the customers buy from us every month. We're practically married to our customers. Does it get annoying? Yes, but we bite our tongues and keep counting those sales!

As far as 200-300 phone calls a day! Come on. I would be willing to bet a month's salary against that. We have 25 salespeople covering the state of NC with monthly sales in the 750,000 to 1,000,000 range and we don't have that kind of phone calls. LOL! If Mr. Deal is that busy then no wander the rest of the high end business is slow. Mr. Deal has it all wrapped up LOL!

Jea48, Nice posts - they should put some of this into prospective.

FWIW, I've got nothing against Taters, but do you note that he has NOT contested Kevin Deal's version of what occurred in the contact he made with Upscale which led to KD's rude hang up.

I think a lot of folks like to call KD for tube advise and exploration of possibilities that don't result in sales or could/would result in mis-matching and subsequent warranty issues for him. And it is advise that you often won't get from other dealers.

I don't know Taters amp, but I've owned ARC amps and they aren't a walk in the park to re-tube. When I had mine my dealer made me send them back to ARC for any servicing including the simple replacement of a resistor in the bias circuit which was burned out by a shorted power tube (ARC uses this resistor as a 'fuse' in most of its amps I believe). He also complained about the difficulty of the re-biasing procedure. Clearly he just didn't want to be involved.

I recall a dealing with a tube vendor, mentioned above, some years ago when I did my first re-tubing of my SP10. I was ignorant about the demands it placed on tubes and the tube types that had a history of success. He gladly sold me an advertised 'set' of tubes that were (as I know now)doomed for failure, and they did shortly after I put them in. You could sub that experience in for some of the experiences that KD was trying to avoid. BTW, I never bought tubes from him again!

In my experience Deal has a 'personality' which many will not appreciate. But if you NEED advise on what tube to use in your equipment, and he has personal experience and the tubes, he is an excellent source. And, his service is excellent. Now if you know what you want to buy and you don't want someone to challenge you, don't call. Others will be very happy to help you and save you a lot of grief. If you just want to bullshit with him, and expect differential treatment, don't be surprised if you don't get it.

Also, consider, how many B&M (or internet) dealers have tubes for sale and know what they are talking about regarding their proposed use. Lots of generic advise, perhaps, as is commonly given here, but not much more. Most equipment dealers I have run accross at least pretend ignorance about 'tube' selection issues. Makes life so much easier for them.

FWIW.

Interesting how this thread started as a question of whether to buy tubes from ARC or an independent dealer, and is seemingly ending as a Kevin Bash Fest.
FWIW, I have always had good experiences dealing with Mr. Deal. He is extremely knowledgeable and offers quality tubes. He may not suffer fools gladly and has chosen to totally avoid the hassel of retubing a particular amp which can be problematic for those inept at it. So be it. One should at least do some preliminary research online anyway before calling any tube dealer. Common sense.