Vintage Tube Gear Priced Insane Now

Supply and demand:

The amount of a commodity, product, or service available and the desire of buyers for it, considered as factors regulating its price.

Supply and Demand , we all know that. I have a Rogue Hera pre that runs 8 Russian 6H30’s, I wish I could afford 8 of those little NOS babies. First world problems are the best. I went through the vintage kick about 15 years ago at the MidFi level. Bought Dynaco tube gear, Marantz and Sansui SS, JBL and Klipsch speakers. For me it wasn’t as Golden as I remembered, gave it to the kids. Regards , Mike. 

I bought an excellent condition Pioneer SX-82 for $225 shipped. Also bought new 7189A to replace under voltage 6BQ5 that came with receiver and five new JJ E83CC frame grid 12AX7s plus new replacement parts for $430 that is typical rebuild costs if you DIY

BTW- all original Elna PIO caps were bad. I bought Russian K40Y-9 replacements. Also note the JJ E83CC sound just like the Mullard 12AX7 long plate but extend further into the listening area. JJ are $28 for new, new Mullard 12AX7 are $200 each.

The Savvy EE, buying into a Vintage Rebuilds, has pretty much shown the BOM for parts, the time requirements to refurb/rebuild are both non-concerns.

The challenge fulfills an area of interest that runs parallel with being interested in audio in general.

I'm sure my own interest in Bearing Housings undergoing design changes on Vintage Era TT's has very little to do with my Interest in audio, even though my interest in audio took me to this area of investigation.

I would say it is my interest in understanding mechanics and attaining improved efficiencies for mechanical functions is the interest that is deeply rooted in the Bearing Housing Interest. The interest in audio that runs parallel, then has something extra attached that is proven beneficial to the experiencing End Sound produced from an audio system. 

IMHO, making vintage gear reliable involves a lot more than coupling caps and tubes.

Much vintage tube gear contains carbon comp resistors which are hygroscopically reactive, and when they go out of spec, rather counterintuitively, they increase in resistance. So all carbon comp resistors should be checked. Sometimes, they can be oven baked to get them back in range.

The next problem is usually line voltage, which at my place runs around 122V. Most vintage gear is designed to run at 115-117V, so this should be addressed if ones line voltage is high. A bucking transformer, variac, or even a couple of thermistors in series should knock down the voltage.

And if the vintage tube gear is stereo, a fair amount of it will have PECs in it. They can last forever, or they can go tomorrow. I replace most of them with discrete circuits, YMMV.

And common selenium, or "top hat" diodes, suck and release toxic gas if they give up the ghost, so they should be replaced with modern diodes. The problem here is that modern diodes are more efficient and the downstream voltage will rise, necessitating a dropping resistor.

And back in the day, tubes were cheap, so much vintage gear runs the output tubes hard. A problem that is exacerbated by higher line voltages. Especially if using new production output tubes, bias voltage will need to be adjusted, some vintage gear does not allow bias adjustment, so a work around needs to be installed.

With tube gear, there is nothing we know today that was not known 70 years ago.  It comes down to quality of the parts and the skill of the builder in voicing the component.  Foremost in importance is the output transformer, followed by the coupling cap and then all the rest of the components.  Depending on the kind of sound one seeks, it may not be the case that modern components are better.  Whether it is the case of cost cutting or a lost art, many of the best sounding transformers are vintage.  Likewise, many prefer the sound of older caps even though they don’t measure as well (not as tight tolerances, higher ESR, slower slew rates, etc.).  Even resistors matter and I know builders who prefer old carbon composition resistors over the latest offerings with ultra tight tolerances.

Vintage gear needs quality coupling caps and best tubes to sound great.

As the owner of some very coveted vintage gear, I should be happy that most of my gear has substantially increased in value since I purchased it.  Still, it is abit sad that others might be squeezed out from owning stuff that remains terrific sounding after all these years.

Can you believe it, those darned Toulouse-Lautrec paintings sell for over ten million dollars now? When he lived at the cat house, you could buy one for the cost of a good meal.

And my buddies spend a couple of hundred on a bottle of old wine. None of that old grape juice for me. I want my wine fresh in an undented box. What is in these guys minds?

A limited supply with increased demand raises prices. I  paid $1800 for a rare pair of Paoli Dynaco MkIII tube amps some years ago. I consider it a good investment.

The World is with a growing number of individuals with savvy in EE matter and are also wanting to get in on the experiences of Vintage Equipment.

Shipping and Issues related with transport does not phase certain types, they are risk takers and take pride in being tinkerers with obsolete electronics.

I have a friend who is a Valve Collector who will inform when a box with a substantial quantity of Valves from a Vintage Era Production were available as a  Military Surplus, and was able to be purchased at £00.50p - £1.00 per Valve.

15 Years on and the same Valves with an unknown background are commanding £100+ per valve.

The current situation is quite straight forward when sale items are on offer.

One either chooses to attempt to become the Customer, if buying through an Auction or becomes the Customer if the sale is not an Auction. 

Alternatively, one passes over the sale option, as they have their own reservations about the condition and cost to be incurred.

In the past months, I have overlooked a large selection of Valves from a Vintage Era, that I have seen as an Auction Sale and as an immediate purchase option. I can't justify the asking price where models supplied with a Measurement are near £200 per Valve. Even though I am fully aware of what a good sample of the Valve is able to create when it is used in my systems circuitry. Knowledge is already gathered of how desirable the Valve is for creating an End Sound that is wanted.   

And your question is?

Amplifiers seldom if ever contain phono stages, and one should not expect the valuation of an amplifier to be based on watts per dollar.