WHICH TUBE AMP TO BUY

Trelja -- thanks for that link. As you indicated, the article points out why most (though not all) Chinese-made products don't measure up, even though there is nothing at all wrong with their electrical (circuit) designs.

What I found REALLY interesting however, that I didn't realize before, is that it doesn't actually take THAT much more money to improve parts quality and fabrication techniques to the point where some of these Chinese manufacturers (like Jolida) will be able to compete with (or even out-compete!) traditionally high quality brands from the US, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Germany.

Personally, I'm very happy with my system. The only major changes in the last 20 years being a new cartridge, a return to tube amplification (MC275) for my electrostats, and finally getting the CLS's up on stands. However, if I were just beginning the process of system-building, I would have no problem considering the best regarded offerings from the Far East. And in a few years from now, I'm certain there will be many Chinese brands that will become synonymous with the highest quality products; at which point, of course, they will all raise their prices ;--))

Nsgarch, "at which point, of course, they will all raise their prices." For a laundry list of reasons that I won't bore you with here, that's already happened. In part because of that, their sales in the North American market have utterly collapsed. Once the Chinese pricing exceeded that of the homegrown brands, it didn't take a call to a psychic on one of those 900 numbers to figure out where sales were headed.

"And in a few years from now, I'm certain there will be many Chinese brands that will become synonymous with the highest quality products." Here, I will disagree with you.

It takes more than a dollar, or even a hundred, to improve quality. Rather, I believe it's a mentality that doing the hard work required in design, implementation, and QA is something they are both committed to and care about. Factor empathy for the end user somewhere into that equation, tempered with the reality of how that one supplier spoke of Michael Allen right in his presence.

In my opinion, it's here they fall down, and unless there is a sea change on their part, to think improvement would just happen is wishful thinking. Again, as Michael called the shots at Jolida, he was able to instill (by force) his (our Western) value system. Why is it that five years after that article was published, the other companies still have not learned anything from it? The answers stare both them and us right in the face.

As far as the entity I was aligned with, I talked to them about so many things until I was blue in the face, and in real terms, never got anywhere. I'm no sage or anything of the sort, but it's interesting to see how things have gone subsequent to my walking away.

As you pointed out in your previous post, these circuits are simply North American and European designs from the 1920s - 1950s. There's zero creativity, and little beyond that required in terms of thinking, involved in the implementation of them - not that the American, German, and British companies alive during Golden Age of HiFi didn't also use them.

Trelja -- I have to bow to your firsthand experience, for sure. And I did note the time that's passed since that article. It seems the whole world is starting to raise eyebrows over Chinese products, from toys to pharmaceuticals!

You can't go wrong if you opt for a class "A" amp.