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How expensive are best NOS tubes ? And how difficult to find ?

Phono stages, preamps and power amps. Any non-Chinese adequate substitutes? I know that if you have Lamm, Vladimir has a few sets of Russian tubes in stock for each particular unit, and it is not really expensive to retube them. But if you have, say, VAC or CAT or Atma-Sphere and want best longest lasting and most reliable tubes, what then ? Don't ask me why not Chinese, I can't talk about it here except that I don't trust their quality control.
inna
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,098 posts
 
Like wine
some amazing stuff for $30 a bottle
andmarginal returns above that...
but drinking $300 stuff is sure fun

i think the ARC approach is prudent given installed base of products vs future sales
but rolling can still improve the product
try a Tung Sol in the power supply for a significant upgrade over factory stock....


inna OP
7,562 posts
 
I wonder where they at Tube World and Vintage Tube Services get the tubes, they probably do have to chase them around the globe.
Buying a few sets in advance might be difficult and expensive but good idea if you plan to keep what you have for a long time. Kind of like having a supply of NOS blank tapes.
Aren’t we all becoming prehistoric ? It’s a good pre-history, anyway.
glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,731 posts
 

One more thing to consider is the tube equipment you are potentially going to buy.  tube manufactures will run the voltages at different levels depending on the use and power they are trying to get. lightly taxed tubes will last significantly longer then tubes run close to their max. Small signal tubes like preamp tubes i've seen last more then a decade. I've pulled tubes out of old military gear that have been used continuously for 50-60 years. its all on how hard they are run and the application. of course original build quality, and that area modern tubes are making great strides.Like others have mentioned.


Glen


tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,098 posts
 
Inna
Andy really is a cool dude and can tell stories about sourcing good stock - that itself is like a global
episode of American Pickers

it does or at least has helped me to build a relationship with a trusted source - Andy for me and start to lay wines into the cellar for drinking later to follow thru on my prior analogy - I have 4 Tube components so I have a few and importantly a path to move along...
inna OP
7,562 posts
 
Glen, this is certainly a good point, I am not sure how to figure it out when it comes to power amps. I would not be concerned much about phono stage and line preamps. Of course, another obvious point is how many tubes you need for a power amp. Tubes in preamp lasting for a decade if you are lucky ? That's great. In any case, I will most likely start with phono preamp, it makes sense to me.
Tom, I heard there is a Navy ship junkyard in Russian Arctic. How do tubes react to cold, by the way ? Maybe Andy knows, about the junkyard I mean, and the cold. I bet he's got an interesting line of work.
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