I thought they were closer to half a million?
I’s also be interested to know what the margins were on them. Basically no economies of scale, and the guy they had doing the veneering was absolutely at the top of the game - I was aware of a yacht outfitters that would only use him as a consultant, not to do the actual work, and yachts are normally blank cheque territory.
POA probs, and if you need to ask…
When I told Kevin where I lived (for the Goto install) he said he was in Norfuk quite often because that’s where cabinet maker they use for the Olympians is. Turns out it’s only a couple of miles from me. That’s probably why they look a lot larger…etc.
Definitive:
“Oh dear – that’s not good. We will replace it of course.
Can you send this faulty one to us (at your convenience) I think I should send it back to Japan and see if there’s a manufacturing flaw or some fault or other that was bound to cause a failure sooner or later. I thing they need to know…
In the meantime, could I have your address please and I will get one off to you.”
That’s the way to do it.
Result 
It’d be interesting to try & log roughly how many hours they spend switched on.
I really liked the set that I had briefly but they’ve gone on to a customer. But I’d like to get a feel for how long they do last. Of course it depends to a degree how hard they’re worked in the amp they’re installed in. 300B are rated at 40W plate dissipation & my own personal amp runs them at 32W but many SET amps would only run them at 20-22W or so in which case you’d expect a longer life.
I tend to run 300Bs at about 30W dissipation for decent life of spendy valves, but i have serviced amps from others which have been running them at 38W 
Mesh plates tend to need to run at 22 to 25W, but they arent really 300Bs
I seem to recall that the tungsten filaments in DHTs go brittle with use. I don’t remember whether that was just the raw ‘bright emitters’ though or whether it included the thoriated or the oxide-coated ones too.
Perhaps the raised temperature associated with high quiescent current might also play a part, but if it doesn’t then I can see how o/c filament failure might just depend on how many hours they’ve been switched on and, once the filament is brittle, whether the valve has had any kind of mechanical shock.
I think if I was buying (or, more importantly, selling) a used DHT I might specify ‘collection only’ to protect against mishaps as a result of courier shipping.
The thoriated tungsten ones are definitely more fragile. I’ve rarely encountered issues with oxide filaments (weirdly 26s seem fragile, perhaps because the thick heavy, high current filament with minimal support), but have had several GM70 and 4304 arrive with the remains of the filament lying in the tube.
My DHT PP amps have had some reasonably heavy use.
I ran WE300B for 10 years before retiring them (still working) and have been using LV300B (KR) for the last 3 years .
I don’t think they run that hot, @coco would know the technicals better than me.
I did think about the Taks when I was looking to replace the WE300B but decided not to audition them as they weren’t really in my budget and I decided ignorance was bliss!
About 30W dissipation.
Apologies, I carelessly dragged this discussion towards lifespan/emission whereas the issue here really is filament fragility.
That is proper aftersales service. Well done Definitive.
But interesting nevertheless
A further update regarding the defective Takatsuki 300b.
I received the replacement Tak from Definite on Friday morning, put it in the Diavolo, switched on and sat down to wait for the amp to warm up.
After 20 seconds or so, spurious chirping/squealing noises started emanating from the horns on the rh channel where I’d just fitted the replacement tube.
I got up to check the tube - was surprised to see the plates inside it were glowing red-hot! So I immediately switched off. I then contacted Pete and explained what had happened. He said the Tak was in “runaway” (not heard that term before - every day’s a schoolday!) which meant it was probably also fubar.
Given the Diavolo runs perfectly with any combination of the other Tak and two spare Chinese 300b tubes (that originally came in the Diavolo), Pete said it was very unlikely that there was anything amiss with the amp itself. .
I called Definitive. After explaining everything to Kevin, he said there must have been a mix up with their spare Taks. He said the best way to sort it would be to send me a brand new matched pair! 
I (probably stupidly) said that I wasn’t expecting that - him sending a good replacement for the duff one of my original pair was more than fair, given they were a week outside the 12 months warranty. No, says he, that’s the least we can do. So they’re sending the new set today.
What stellar service - bravo Definitive! 
Bravo!
And you end up with a slightly used Tak spare 
I had a Western Electric 300B go runaway and it melted a hole in the glass, very entertaining and scary in equal measures 
TBF it was 26 years old though.
Well yes, unless they ask for it back. 
Interestingly, the replacement Tak which went runaway had a serial number which was about 2k lower than the pair I bought last year.
Not sure how many per year they make, but given they’re hand assembled by a small team, I would think that tube was quite a bit older.
Aphex Twin?
A good chunk of my record collection 
