Conquered the itch for high$ NOS

I kicked the NOS Amperex etc habit years ago after paying $50 per tube for white label PQ's or white label USN 7308's and never looked back...some will still pay since they have the dough or intensity of interest..it is a finite resource we've been tapping and price rise is inevitable. At some point the price will probably plateau as sales fall off.

A recent purchase of a pair of monoblock tube amplifiers for $1k with JAN tubes installed (and touted by the seller to be outstanding) proved to be truly a sonic disappointment. However, the installation of NOS Amperex tubes improved the audio reproduction dramatically. The difference is so remarkable that the amplifiers now compare favorably in A/B tests with a well respected brand which sells in the $5k range. The moral of the story is not to dismiss the potential improvement those expensive tubes can make.

Bravo for you Stubby. I'm glad to hear some other folks have finally seen the light. I certainly have. I recently purchased some electro harmonix 6h30pi gold's to replace the nos 6h30dr's that I currently have which I paid $100 for a pair 2yrs.ago. Now those same tubes are selling for $310 a pair which I refuse to pay and you know the electro harmonix's sound damn near as good!! or to put it another way the nos 6h30dr's don't sound $300 better, not even close. Yeah, I know some will say that its an individual choice and if people are willing to pay the price then so be it.
A lot of this is as much psychological as anything else. Folks keep hyping up the nos tubes so much until you almost convince yourself that they are that much better, when they're not. Yes the nos tubes sound a little better but not what the difference in price ends up being( its all relative right?)
Unfortunately, common sense has taken a long vacation in this so called hobby, especially as it applies to tubes. Hopefully it will come back soon! The prices some folks are charging for nos tubes is ridiculous!!
Larryken, based on what has transpired so far, I don't see a plateau in sight.
Commcat, my question to you is how many other tubes did you try besides the JAN's before you made your revealation about the nos's being so remarkably better? and how much of difference in price did you pay?
I'm sure the nos tubes were better than the JAN's as JAN's never have been that good from the jump but there are alot of other tubes out there...