Okay. Here is what "finally" happened when I brought my Golden Tube Audio SE40 to a)a general
tube audiophile service centre("Audio Note" shop in Adelphi, Singapore) and then to the (ex)GTA dealer who I bought the unit from...

Recap...recently, the output tubes on my Golden Tube SE40 power amplifier blew and I brought it to Adelphi for repairs.
I did not want to bring it back to Kingsley, the dealer I bought the amp from.
I did not like what I perceived to be their unethical selling methods.

I brought it to audio note (also an audiophile service center willing to service tube amps of any brand, at that time).
Audio Note manager Cecil Tan sold us a six pack of Sovtek 6L6 tubes(which I requested).

Now when his technician was biasing the tubes, several of them glowed a MAD FIERY RED. He turned the bias all the way to absolute minimum. Burning MAD, FIRE RED!
Cecil Tan assumed that the AMP's the problem(citing the reputation that the "SE40 is so unreliable and always breaking down". He pretty much called it a piece of junk.

So he suggested we send it back to the original dealer.

Kingsley.

Desmond Tan of Kingsley asked us to dump
the amp somewhere. He'll get back to us soon. When my gfwho loves the SE40) called them 2 days later, the first thing they told us was "6L6 cannot use"(???)

(The amplifier was made for the 5881/6L6 tube. Guitar amp
lovers will know what I mean. In this case, someone at Kingsley had originally used EL34s(!)in place of the 6L6s-
a sure sign of disaster as I learned later.)


She called the technician and he told her that the Sovtek 6L6s were the problem!

By now, we were beginning to have a feeling that both the shops were giving
us the runaround. "6L6s can not be used on an SE40 unless biased VERY accurately"-unquote.

THEY ALSO SAID: EL34s are able to handle the SE40 better than both the 5881s and 6L6s!(!???)
They should tell us that again since mine blew within a month of purchase.)

We then decided to try 5881s now. Sigh.
Sent it back to Audio Note to swap the 6l6 with 5881s, the Audio Note manager refused to believe HIS tubes were faulty. However, when we
swapped the already bought Sovtek 6L6s with Sovtek 5881s, one or two of them were still glowing red hot so we
strongly insisted the guy change to other 5881s and ta-daah...the whole problem was solved.

Now, my SE40 had never ran cooler, much less like an volcano waiting to burst. However, I had to spend more than a $160+++ to FINALLY get back the original tubes used on the SE 40 amp!

Now get this: when we tried to test the amp at the Audio NOte showroom one channel was down. No, tried as he could, the Audio Note manager Mr Cecil could not find fault with the SE40...it was his pre-amp or his flimsy overpriced AN interconnects that were faulty(hmm..bad Audio NOte
quality control?).

And then....

*It* happened.

Hooked up to Totem Staffs, the $1000 GTA SE40
trounced all the Audio Note amps in that room including the $3000+ OTO SE, the $5000+ Audio Note 300B SE amps...

I couldnt believe it until I had heard it myself. Liquid, tangible, dynamic, warm...you name it. The SE40, with only Sovtek 5881s was making a mockery of the pompous Audio Note manager's claims to his products' superiority. He had even claimed that his cheapest 300B amp killed Cary's 300B Signature monoblocs at 3 times it s price!

Now a grand's worth of a junk tubed amp was making his $5K
pure triode Audio Notes cry for mercy.

An Audio NOte customer was there with his jaw dropped and could NOT believe how great the SE40 was. He kept asking us about the price and he couldnt believe it. He wanted
to know if there was another one at Kingsley for sale!

Right about now the Audio NOte manager must ve regained his composure(after being shocked by how good his hated non-customer lil amp was sounding)and began to loudly sing the praises of...

His OWN Totem speakers! HE attributed the glorious musical sound we were hearing to his speakers! I couldnt believe this guy.

You know, I was *seriously* considering before that day that I might trade in the SE40 for a "better" Audio Note 300B amp...but on the day of reckoning-the day I finally got the SE 40 retubed properly, and after Cecil Tan finally made my mind up earlier by warning my gf and I about how he "black lists" potential customers who just go to his showroom and do not buy from him.....

To be fair, Cecil trolleyed our SE40 down with us, me rolling the thing actually, and saw us off. What can I say? He's a "nice" guy who gives "good trolley"? I don't know. I shook his hand for accompanying us down and we left.

I don t know if I ll ever deal with these two shops ever again.

Maybe to lodge a complain with Kingsley for
selling a 3 pin(Leading us to believe it was a grounded AC cord) home brew AC power cord w/out telling me it didnt have a ground.
We found out on our own muuch later after I opened the plug cos the amp was sounding unsteady.
It could have contributed to the loud pops that occurred when switching off the unit, that might ve contributed to early tube failure. I now use a stock cord and when I switch the SE40 off, there are NO clicks or POPS!

We did finally get a full refund for the AC power cord they sold us, however. Future dealings with Mikhail their salesman would appear to be both professional and better since launching this review on the Internet. Let us hope they keep it up.

Cecil on the other hand...*shrug*

In summary, the Golden Tube SE 40 is an AMAZING amp! Deserves every accolade it had received in the hi-fi press

If you want an even more sophisticated and musical rendering of all your recorded music, you might not wish to go the Audio NOTe or the Conrad-Johnson upgrade ladder. It is extremely costly and you might end up burned financially and spiritually.

Im my honest opinion, only Cary single ended triode amplifiers better this beautiful amp.

*(Note 1: Later I traded up the SE 40 for Golden Tube's own
300B triode amplifier. It was the better amp. What can I say? GTA made fine amplifiers that rival many better known brands at their related price points.

*Note, the second: I just learned that Golden Tube Audio had finally closed shop. But even if there is a risk involved in buying a GTA product now, one should keep in mind that there are probably many competent tube amplifier makers and technicians in Singapore who might be more than able to service, repair or modify GTA amplifiers with not much hassle. In any case both the Se40 and Se 300B power amplifiers remain as two of the biggest high end audio bargains of the millenium.