Tube amps under $7500


Ready to experiment with combinations never before (or not recently) tried. Step one requires a tube amp. Now looking at Prima Luna EVO 400 which sells for 5K. Any other tube amps I should consider in this price/feature range? Must come in silver with balanced input. For pairing experimentally with various tube and SS preamps. Efficient 4 ohm Legacy speakers (and the room/setup) are the constants.

 

hickamore

@mikhailark Not the only country that has electricity, but if you are able to buy a house abroad, pay for transport of your many expensive components, and set them up an ocean away, then yours is a more portable lifestyle than mine. Maybe you already have dual citizenship and a second residence abroad. Lucky you. Some of us are a bit short on safety valves.

@hickamore - many countries are significantly cheaper than the US, provide universal healthcare and gladly accept retirees. But anyway, it is definitely not for everyone. I moved between countries twice in my life, so this is not a problem for me at all. YMMV, of course.

@mikhailark  a lot of bigger companies have gone belly up, I wouldn't worry about that, tube equipment is easy to work on.

@hickamore if your speakers drop down in impedance I would seriously look into the space tech lab hybrid amps that use a 300b to drive an 845 and then mosfet output stage. I have one of space tech lab cheaper hybrid amps that drives my apogee speakers really well even though it's only 35 watts. His 845 hybrid amps are a lot more powerful.

@mikhailark In truth my own immobility lies in a1.5-acre live-in, finest-and-rarest arboretum created over 40 years. Then there is the 2k-bottle fine and rare wine collection, assembled over the same time, demanding impeccable storage and transit conditions. Unlike amplifiers, trees and wines are living things. I could subsist on everyday wines, but losing the garden would be curtains. So you're right: amplifiers are trifles in the greater scheme of things.
@invalid Indeed, a huge hybrid amp (a one-off T+A) has been recommended to me and there is no doubt it would handle the  bass dips. Still, now is not the time for "business as usual." As dozens of philosophers, from pre-Socratics to Stoics to Existentialists have counseled, prepare always for the worst. And so I do.