Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR

@Sakahara

Thanks for your replay. I am very sorry to hear that you having this issue and believe me, not trying to convince you to do anything, all I wrote is my opinion only. On the other hand, its very good/cool that you share your situation, cos folks should know about this, imo. I would say, take your money, never look back. Even I never have had any issues with Sophias Princess Mesh 300B/N with white ceramic base, which are top of their list and sells for USD450 with 1 year warranty, still think we dont have to support their kindness, no, we have to suport the quality of the product in the first place. If nobody buys their cheaper lines, it will disapear. Well, just forget it, dont want to people think I am Chinese hater or something.
If you are looking for WE sound sig I would go for Svetlana's, but than again, personaly I never tried any, so, thats where we have to believe this enjoythemusic guy. But the most important thing, buy from the trusty source where you can get your full deposit back if you will have some issues with them. This enjoythemusic guy also tested top TJ Carbon's that been mentioned already, but they were like USD 695 a pair and sounded better than WE's, but later same guy tested these KR Balloon's and ended up with them, where TJ's took 2nd place and WE's 3rd.
Why I stil telling you this? Simply because you seems to want WE's really badly, but you wouldnt find any of WE's sound in general line of KR, EML or Treasure, cos all of them having so called modern kind of sound and thats true. Personaly, I found a lot similarities between KR and AVVT's I own, but thats not that strange, cos KR and AVVT guy were working together in the beginning and AVVT guy left KR and started his own company AVVT. He also have had some issues, but after 1999 its been over, so, anything before that will be to risky. Same goes to KR's, where they also have had some problems, but this particular Balloon pair comes with 2 years of warranty, which to me is a lot. Of course you should ask them about their warranty policy first, so you know before you buy.
At the end, if you cant go for more expensiver lines of any been mentioned, Svetlana's, which are still in production, will be your only choice here or check the used market for other mentioned brands, however I wouldnt do that either, to much risk, imo.
By the way, WE supose to restart their production around May of this year, but than again, this is not sure yet, but also they, probably, will cost like USD 900 a pair at least.

One more time, many thanks for sharing with us and keep it up, its very important.

Good luck.

Sophia doesn't offer refund.

Looks like I'm stuck with ceramic base.

Who sells the Svetlana 300B? I can't find it, not even on their website. I've heard of AVVT but not familiar with tubes.

Fact is, none of these current 300B's are real (WE) 300B designs, nor can they be. Different time, manufacturing process, materials, design. There wasn't carbon/mesh-plate, globes, XLS,..etc. This is why many customers experience premature failure with their tubes because they don't match the amp. They want extra power, giant globes,..etc and end up burning them out due to incompatibility. I want the closest thing to WE 300B w/o all the glitz.

I feel very sorry, but not for you, for Sophia's "service".

Thanks for sharing this, man, thats sucks, totally. So, tell me, do you still like their kind attitude? Are you kidding me?! No good means full refund, no questions ask, thats how it must be, period.

AVVT is the one man company, which do not in the business anymore for many years, but this guy Alesa Vaic was/is an genius, who couldnt handle the business part, but developed one of the finest modern tubes out there.

You can buy Svetlana's from jacmusic.com, I believe, just send Jac an e-mail, he is one of the best to deal with it, imo.

Like I wrote, if you want WE's, just buy WE's, period. If you cant do that, just compromise, so, maybe KR Balloone's after all?

Just wonder why you sold WE's in the first place?

I agree. The right thing to do is offer customer choice of refund or another replacement. Sophia has been more helpful then most though, but still no excuse. This experience makes me reconsider EML, KR, and Shuguang Treasure. It's a gamble with any current production tube, especially power tubes in my experience. I've had better reliability from 1940's-1950's NOS tubes. And as mentioned before; I can't afford NOS WE 300B now. Had to sell my pair to help get by.

Are you aware of the fact that Sophia introduced a new flagship? For USD 1200 only you will get the best of the best, but if you hurry up for USD 999 its the best deal ever.

I just hope that WE will be in production soon again.