I have no affiliation with Kevin from Upscale Audio but I have watched his videos over many years and I trust him. I have sent hundreds of customers to him without so much as an email or phone call. He and I have never communicated.

That said, he did me a real service this week by posting a video about TUBE LIFE that you need to see.  I agree with 100% of everything he said. Please watch it.

https://youtu.be/muFkxDyozao


Steve

Great video, it matches my experience with both pre and power tubes (albeit in guitar amps) over the past 40+ years.

Kevin and Kat make some amazing, very informative videos. Kat is a classically-trained musician, and really knows her stuff. When my Decware gear gets closer to shipping, I plan on ordering a new t-table from Kat.

Steve, fwiw, associating with Kevin Deal is no feather in your cap. The disclaimer of no association with him carries little weight with many, including myself. His sales techniques are not first class. Decware has toed the line of professional marketing, to great benefit. I'm aware this note will generate many who disagree, but I would ask you this question: do Andy Bouwman, Jim McShane or Brent Jessee ever sound like used car salesman? Passion toward delivering quality doesn't include being brash or obnoxious. Furthermore, the quality of craftsmanship between decware and prima luna is laughable, let alone the sound production. Compare the pricing. What is good ol' Kevin giving in his Chinese made product that Decware isn't? The answer is NOT good sound and truly quality construction.

Steve, my recommendation is to make your own video or do without.

Groovy, I understand your point. I don't deal with salesman who act like Kevin...I don't have to. Andy will replace tubes, as do Jessee and Jim. As for the video, what value does it really provide for Decware? Is Steve lacking for credibility in his own merit? If Steve says something is good, all of us decware kool-aid drinkers believe it. Steve has done plenty of videos in the past, do one now that makes the claims Kevin did.

Anyway, point taken. Thank you for being respectful. First class.

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ummm....fascinating.

Yessir, "Uncle Kevvy" generally sells his tubes at an inflated rate, everything he sells according to him is always the greatest of all time, and he's got a bit of narcissistic personality type that's wanting in the modesty dept.

I don't deal with overt characters like him either, as I posted earlier I never purchased anything from him and never will. "Uncle Kevvy" doesn't need my business.

Please tell me more about what you're trying to convey. Thanks[size=20][/size]

Gotcha. That makes sense. For the record, I'm not a kool-aid drinker. I generally believe him, certainly much more than Kevin Deal. Thanks for the clarity. Peace to you and yours.

Thanks Steve, good info from our hippie friend….as a new to tubes owner I can use it. My UFO2 is breaking in and at 7 months sounding great

Edsonic,

Not really looking to defend or promote DS, seems like he can hold his own. My comment was in general a observation of someone's point of view that can lead into some useful info. Not all of us green cat's are as skilled or knowable as the cool kids. As far as your interpretation of a conversation well that's your interpretation. I'm just along for the ride. My view is it's been informative. I can respect and see views from all sides. Just sucks people feel they have to leave the forum over a conversation. But what do I know really. Don't remember calling anyone a kool-aid drinker.

On that point; It does not require super intelligence or specific training of any sort to understand that it is a particular reworking of a circuit extracted from the ZR2 being used in the driver stage of this new amplifier. Not "putting an EQ into the amp." At least four other people (not counting myself) showed by their responses that they understood it.

They were not 'drinking the kool-aid' and taking Steve's explanations on faith. Long before this discussion, those people obviously had attained enough knowledge to understand what Steve was explaining, having gotten to that point by ongoing accumulation of useful facts. Saving fanciful notions and recreational conjecture for non-technical discussions.

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Then best not express opinions on subjects they are ignorant about and just read, ask questions and learn instead.  Personally, I tend to pick my "experts" and trust their judgement until I can approach their level and think for myself.

If you are referring to my post, I noticed your comment that I quoted and used it in a general way.  Unlike other "social media," opinion alone doesn't  hold water here.

Archie,

Thank you! 👍

This is a partisan forum.  Just look at the name on the banner.  And that's okay with me  One way you can judge the loyalty and respect is by some getting defensive at "perceived" negative comment about Steve or his product.  My impression is that Decware wouldn't exist if Steve wasn't an out-of-the-box thinker.  That kind of approach is bound to attract criticism or misunderstanding from time to time.  Call it "drinking the Kool-Aid," fan-boy(ism), loyalty or whatever, Steve still makes great stuff.  

Why do you assume my posts are all about you?  They are not.  Do you think you're the first to use the phrase "drinking the Kool Aid" here?  Get over yourself.

Yeah, not at all.  What I was hoping to do was to nip in the bud further "bashing" for fandom.  Not that I thought our were.  Most of us here are guilty of being acolytes to a large degree.  It's why we stick around I guess.

Did I miss the Hot Button, here?

I tend to agree with the main point of the vid: tube life may be different than advertised by some tube sellers.

Next?

https://www.resellerratings.com/store/Upscale_Audio

As I mentioned I don't know Kevin. I haven't researched his reputation.  I just go by gut and so far I have only watched his videos about tubes, as that is obviously all that would catch my attention and over the years they have all rang true.

I know that he has an inventory that would exceed most online tube stores because I have seen it in his videos. If you have the capital to keep that kind of inventory, you also have the capital to have staff to carefully measure and grade it which is evident by how it's sold and the prices. As someone who has thrown away enough substandard tubes to finance a small home, I see real value in this.

I have purchased tubes from many of the main tube stores in the USA and get fairly poor quality matching and virtually no other meaningful testing.  In fact many use the popular MAXIMATCHER, of which I have, but that is an unregulated tester that drifts by several points with only a couple volts change on the input from the wall outlet. This means that when a person is reading tube A and marking down it's value, a motor turns on elsewhere in the building and drops the voltage to the device which in turns gives you a false reading on the second tube, and then the motor turns off and the third tube reads fine, etc. You have to not only use a variac set to a consistent voltage but check it as you read the value of each tube. How many times do you think this really happens? After all we live in a world where after over 50 years of trying -- McDonnald's Hamburgers still can't deliver a consistent product through the drive-through.

This is in fact the very reason we put current meters on our amplifiers so that you can see when you buy matched tubes if they actually match.

I always got the impression that Kevin actually knows he's doing.  He obviously has the passion to go to that level and likely has the proper equipment to go a little past just "testing" which is how he can justify a healthy prices.

If I'm wrong and things have gotten loose over there I apologize for misleading anyone, but so far I'm not really convinced that I am wrong.  

Steve

Yes. For a reasonable up-charge the better tube sellers will test dual triodes to match the hissy of both sections.

Good info, Groovy!
I do not need to buy any tubes right now, but I will look at Brent and Andy before I do buy again.

I do not own a tube tester  (should I?), so I have to go by the grassroots method. Trust the old over abused ears, mostly.

Thanks for that.

Our power is about the same, but I have my Kleenline set for 117V and it keeps up, OK, as far as anything I can measure with my only 'scope.

I have a selection of Cryo'ed tubes I bought from Tubeman in the past and there was no question of higher performance and matching.
I am still using them.
I went back and filled my Pre with the 12AX7s all Cryo'ed. It made a very noticeable difference in clarity, just to start trying to define the sound improvement.

I knew what you meant.

I was just indulging in a bit of opportunistic silliness.

Jec3504 wrote:

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I am shocked, completely shocked that my posts are sometimes taken the wrong way.  I have always assumed that all my posts are met with great respect and admiration.  But apparently I am unknowingly way off on that one!  



I’m just happy this has been brought to my attention so I can better conform my thinking to fit the room in a way that will foster greater popularity for myself.  When ye ‘ole popularity starts to dip, then ya gotta raise the conformity efforts.

I’m kidding.  I do genuinely understand that I can be a handful.

Hey, I’m a free thinker with an irreverent sense of humor who is half drunk on Maui sun, sand and sea.  All I write is done so with tropical good cheer. My allegiance is to what I see as truth and have very little regard for tribalism in any form.  Tribalism in religion, politics, audio - just about anywhere - will meet a raised eyebrow from me.  Once the tribe is formed, truth is often the first casualty.

I may not always be correct, but I’m assuredly honest.

Yes, I feel that the addition of ZRock like sonic enhancements to the Sarah 300B ought to be disclosed in the marketing, especially given that no other Decware amp has the same enhancements and that audiophiles are notorious for shunning anything that remotely smells like a ZRock.

But that’s just one obscure human being’s opinion, a perspective that in no way diminishes my love for what Decware products have done for my system - transformative.

I understand that a position advocating honesty & transparency could be construed as controversial.  I also do not understand why such a position is controversial.  Yet I could see such a thing happening when the tribe is made more important than what is true.

As for Kevin Deal, I get a total kick out of him.  Yes, he’s brash and has a used car salesman type vibe, but I’ve been his customer for over 20 years and he has been a great dealer to me.  Extremely knowledgeable and generous with that knowledge.  And a great sense of humor.

I love his candidness, even if it ruffles feathers.  Actually, I love his candidness because it ruffles feathers.  I much rather have someone tell me like it is rather than dance through a polished, politically correct smoothed out rap.

It’s worth pointing out that Kevin’s video completely roasts Paul McGowan.  Keven is basically saying Paul is full of s**t when it comes to tube knowledge, in so many words.  And it’s for that reason that I’d suggest Steve think twice about sharing the video.  It’s perhaps not the best look for one company to share a video that flames a competing amp manufacturer - even though I personally have zero problem with Kevin calling out Paul.

I totally get that some will be offended by Kevin, that his style is off-putting.  And that’s ok.  We all radiate towards different things, towards different personalities.  I can say that beneath Kevin’s sales style is a genuinely decent human being.  He’s a good guy.

Party on!