China built tube amps

Don't get freaked out by the China amps.  Some are really good values and will blow away even those who think they are the best audiophiles.  Match them properly with some really efficient speakers such as Klipsch Heritage JBL, Tekton and you will be very happy.    Willsenton makes some great amps for value.  The R8 has point to point wiring build where as  even the Carver Crimson has a PCB board .   There is a great review from Jim at Tube Lab where he shows the build on your tube.  Roll some NOS tubes in and you will be amazed .    Service could be an issue but a local guy should be able to work on the amp if something happens.  I actually have two Chinese AMPS and both sound great and have had no issues.    Check the reviews on You Tube .  The store guy that wont sell you some amps is just because he hates competing with value shoppers.     Most of the other gear out there is made in China anyway so why an issue?  

May first tubey was a Stereo 70.  Got it for $4.  Must've been worth at least $5.  Think I must've either given it away or thrown it in the trash when I was done with it.  Many moons ago.

OP: i know who you're talking about. he pretty much told you verbatim what he told me. and he carries Chinese amps!!! how does that work??

Oh no! Another silly MIC thread.

The anti MIC's must have a special USA made keyboard computer setup to type their nonsense.

Let's see how long this one lasts.

If you get a Chinese amp that is sold by a US dealer you should be fine. I would avoid the cheaper Chinese tube amps that only seem to be available on Amazon or eBay. There is a reason they don't have dealer support!

We avoid Chinese parts in our equipment for reliability reasons, the exception being the tubes. The Chinese small signal tubes have been pretty good for us, the power tubes not so much- for them we use Russian made tubes. Oddly, the Russian small signal tubes don't seem to be that good IMO. The Chinese factory producing 6SN7s burned down a couple of years ago so they've gotten hard to get.

This issue is a bit prickly for me. For example if you are looking to repair a vintage audio piece that uses semiconductors, eBay has become a bad place to look for replacements because its flooded with Chinese knockoffs that won't meet spec and will likely fail if you try to install them. My personal concerns are how are the people treated that make the parts and the equipment? I do not know how much is real or imagined on my part. But there are companies that seem to do good work- Topping is one of them; they make extremely well engineered digital gear that is also at commodity prices- compact, reliable and also sound good.