Why are people paying these stupid tube prices?

Yes, it is a prevalent pattern to see folks rolling rare vintage tubes into cheap chi-fi or even cheap Schiit amps, especially headphone gear. Especially 6SN7 and 6922. It always rubbed me the wrong way too. What a waste. On the upside you can buy their tubes after they move onto the next flavor of them month, but a lot of times it will only be a single.

Anyways, the current tube shortage / price crisis really mainly affects power tubes, which don’t have vintage alternatives available in quantity.

The manufacturer New Sensor / Electro Harmonix sells the tubes on their own online store. Their prices have increased drastically in the past month or 2. Take a gander - KT120 for $150 each. Gold Lion KT88 $170 each. You can imagine the KT150 and 170 prices. Between double and triple the previous "usual" prices, across the board. That may or may not be indicative of prices going forward. But in a worst case scenario, those are the "new" tube prices, and any onshore vendors selling for anything less than that are simply burning through existing stock on hand.

In a better case scenario, these are just temporary price spikes intended to keep hoarders from wiping out existing stocks before we get a better picture for the long-term prospects of Russian manufacturing.

Perhaps it would be best if we just prevented anyone that wasn’t part of your elite group from purchasing any tubes at all. That way, the people that deserve all the best in life, like YOU, will keep the best things in life for yourselves.

I knew this would rattle the sensitive ones looking for a fight and hyperbolic analogies to Marie Antionette (rolls eyes). I could equally state that guys like you who habitually drag these conversations to the mat are what gives the audiophile community a bad rap. Nowhere did I say it wasn’t anyone’s right to stick round plate 6SN7 or pinched waist 6922 into a Chi-fi amp. They’re not excommunicated from audiophile-dom if they do this. Just stated my opinion (backing the other guy who said it first) that there are better uses for these dwindling resources.

I guess nobody else has noticed the tube MANUFACTURER, New Sensor / EH, is setting even higher prices than Viva tubes on their own web store. But I guess it’s just fun to bash Viva tubes for some reason? They’re doing you a favor, if you really need (not for spares or OCD) a power tube that’s out of stock elsewhere. They had to price high enough to discourage hoarders and scalpers.

The big power tubes is where the crunch is, because there’s no vintage alternatives to fill the void. The vintage small tubes should still last for many years. It’s bad to need KT120 or KT150 right now, with Gold Lion KT88 close behind. KT170 is also bad to need, but at least there aren't a lot of amps out there that use it.