Has anyone been keeping up on the 'New Sensor' Controversy?

[aletheian]

http://www.kensei-news.com/bizdev/pu...le_41993.shtml

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/storie...12/08/001.html

[anatech]

Hi aletheian,
I got an email on it. It read like an advertisement.

I hope this is not true. The Electroharmonix brand is an easy choice these days. They are my preferred brand at the moment.

-Chris

[Eli Duttman]

I find the situation quite disquieting. Yes, lots of junk comes out of Saratov. However, some pretty good tubes come from there too. With EI (Serbia) producing JUNK, we can ill afford to lose yet another source of useable tubes.

[Giaime]

That's some bad news. Here in Italy, where you couldn't find NOS tubes, used ones, etc etc, EH is the primary choice of guitarists and audiophiles looking for good sound, reliability and not-so-high price.

That's disgusting, tube factories should be preserved like museums.

[UncleNed]

You can read the whole text at this URL:

http://tinyurl.com/cvchl

Mike has a fair amount of money and friends, always
good things to have when practicing business or politics in Russia,
but so do the people he's haggling with. It may help that he's
American as the Russians probably don't want to scare off
US investment. ExpoPUL also employees lots of Russian
industrial workers who presumably wouldn't be happy
losing their jobs.

Mike could move the factory elsewhere, in fact he offered to
do so for the right price ($15 million).

Some of the statements made are pretty preposterous.
A public utility cutting off someone's juice to get them to accept a
lowball offer isn't "standard business negotiations".
If that plant closes, it probably wouldn't be permanently, so long as
sufficient demand for its products exists, tube amps won't
disappear from the earth as a consequence.
The plant closing would certainly put a crimp in supply and cost
Mike a pile of money he doesn't deserve to lose. I can't
see Mike laying down & quitting, no matter what, he never has
before.

Mike has the edge in credibilty among the news reading
public, however. Russian real estate barons have a reputation
for being cutthroats, so the the Business Estate folks' denials
tend to ring hollow. OTOH the majority of people don't know
anything about tubes.

From my point of view, (a) the more competition, the better
it is for customers, aznd (b) there's certain products New Sensor
makes there that are not made and are not likely to be made
elsewhere, eg: tubes like 7199, 6EU7, and 7868. That'd be a royal
pain not being able to get those items.

Mike's been a great help to me in the past and an innovator in the
tube business, I certainly wish him success in saving his factory.

[anatech]

Hi UncleNed,
I can't disagree. Of course, if Mike was smart he may remove the equipment to another country, and some key workers. That would not go well for Russia. They need this for their economy and proof they can make a quality product. And this, they do.

A plant closure would me me sad. I don't have the money to lay in a stock.

-Chris

[Zen Mod]

Originally posted by Eli Duttman
With EI (Serbia) producing JUNK, we can ill afford to lose yet another source of useable tubes.

EI RC production is shutted down ,if I have good information.
anyway- they probably have last stock mostly of leftovers.

[Joel]

With EI (Serbia) producing JUNK...

"Junk"?? Hardly! I use their 12AX7, EL84, and 6DJ8 all the time, and I find them reliable, long-lasting, and good sounding. They aren't RCA, but neither is their price.
Perhaps you'd like to swing by and hear their "junk" in action?

Joel

[cogsncogs]

Originally posted by: Joel
"Junk"?? Hardly! I use their 12AX7, EL84, and 6DJ8 all the time, and I find them reliable, long-lasting, and good sounding. They aren't RCA, but neither is their price.

I couldn't agree more. Though a good precentage of their 12AX7's were microphonic they are otherwise fairly quiet, good gain, sound pretty darn good especially in Hi-Fi use. Not like the Sovtek 12AX7B's I have (6) which pop every 5-10-15 minutes or so and I mean LOUD POP's! And the Sovtek 12AX7A's I have seem to be low in gain compared to what a 12AX7 should be, plus dark sounding with thin bass.

My

Wayne

Edit: I'm currently using two 6681's bought back in the mid-eighties, in my VTL rip-off and I'm sticking with those for a while.

[UncleNed]

Originally posted by Joel "Junk"?? Hardly! I use their 12AX7, EL84, and 6DJ8 all the time, and I find them reliable, long-lasting, and good sounding. They aren't RCA, but neither is their price.
Perhaps you'd like to swing by and hear their "junk" in action?
Joel

The quality control certainly isn't what it used to be .
It used to be good enough that Telefunken, Siemens and GE
used to repackage and sell Ei tubes.

Choky is probably right, (he lives in Serbia so he's most likely to know), and PM Components haven't shipped much if any of the "Ei Gold" tubes lately.
According to the Ei web page, they're still in business, though!

www.eierc.com/rc/who_we_are.htm

Maybe Mike Matthews will get sick of Russian BS and buy the place