Aesthetix Rhea & Calypso Tube Upgrade

Good quality 12ax7 or 6922 tubes cost from a reputable dealer will run you $30/ea., so you're talking about $420 minimum for a complete retube. What does the factory charge for a complete set? You might want to talk to the factory about whether there is a specific tube position you might want to splurge on. Really good editions of these tubes can be had for under $100/ea.

I just checked Ebay (8/8) and there are 10 of the 7058 tubes I mentioned going for a total of $70, buy-it-now. These are NOS. That's more than I usually paid, but not bad.

What do you guys consider to be an 'Expensive' tube(s) ?

I have the Aesthetix Janus, and in my system, I have purchased a brand new stock set of tubes from Aesthetix, and I've also purchased NOS Amperex and RCA tubes from Andy at Vintage Tube Services. I will say that for the phono section, I liked the sound of both sets just fine. For the Calypso portion, however, the stock tubes sound rolled off and therefore dead except at quite loud levels. The VTS tubes sound much better.

There is no best tube. Synergy is the key. In my Calypso, I liked the stock 12AX7 tubes with my warm McCormack SS amp and warm NOS Mullard tubes with the cool NCore digital amps.

Bob