Buy tubes from Audio Research or not

There is a reason ARC charge as much for the tubes as they do - they measure their tubes, burn them in inhouse for 48h, measure them again - and then throw away those that up to specs. As much as 30% tubes gets rejected this way. No other independent tube supplier I'm aware of does offer this kind of service.

"There is a reason ARC charge as much for the tubes as they do - they measure their tubes, burn them in inhouse for 48h, measure them again - and then throw away those that up to specs. As much as 30% tubes gets rejected this way. No other independent tube supplier I'm aware of does offer this kind of service."

I'll be needed tubes for an ARC sp16 pre-amp at some point.

My impression is that the QC service ARC provides as described is worth a premium.

Anybody know how much of a premium to expect to pay for tubes from ARC versus other likely internet sellers?

Unless I am mistaken, Upscale Audio also burns in their output tubes. Not sure what their rejection rate is. However, they've given up on re-tubing the ARC VT-100.

Audio Research provides the most value for the money, especially since they burn. Stick with them unless you have a hi end tube tester and are prepared to return the dud's to the seller.

Elberoth2, et al- Read these procedural descriptions, and see how they compare with ARC's: (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/rare/tpm.htm) (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/rare/noisetest.htm) Then compare the prices on a matched set of tubes. I've been buying output tubes from Kevin for 16 years(NOS and new production), and have yet to have one failure, or disappointment.