I wish you had not posted that header. If you care at all about your hobby, promote it instead of trying to read between the lines. New guys mis-understand and may never experience the magic of tubes. There have always been hiccups in supply from every source of tubes in every country. It's life and not something to worry about. The demand is there, and that's what counts. What he is trying to say in the article is this: A Genelex KT66 was about $10 in 1970. I had a 1972 Chevy Nova in high school, and new it was $3200 as I recall. The same car now would be about $15000...up almost 5 times inflation adjusted. After importing and duties, advertising, wharehousing, warranty, tooling, insurance, etc tubes are really too cheap. I have supplied MI (Music Industry) which is by far the largest buyer of audio tubes......dwarfing high end. And they are pretty frugal. I wish Eric had not posted it to an area where there may not be an understanding of all the dynamics. It should be addressed to the principles of the companies that buy tubes...the end user is only harmed by needless fear, as evidenced on audio asylum and possibly here.
Svetlanta really going under?
Eric Barbour posted at Audio Asylum that the future of certain vacuum tube manufacturers is questionable. He stated that the prices will need to drastically rise. i think that he suggested a price of $250.00 for their 6L6! Is this tube really going to out perform my Genelex KT-66? You can buy the KT-66 from most reputable tube dealers for around $100.00 to $125.00 each. Eric puts most of the blame on the guitar manufacturers, stating that they are too cheap. His letter sounds desparate, taking many cheap shots at audiophiles, OEM manufacturers, and calling us "Jerks". It is a must-read. Once again, it's at www.audioasylum.com in the tube section. Check it out. So, is it really that expensive to build new tubes? That you have to charge $250.00 for a 6L6? (Think it's worth twice what my Genelex KT-66 cost?)