"Keith G" wrote in message
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"Iain Churches" wrote in message
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Keith. This is something that has been puzzling me for a very long time.
My local dealer tells me that the interest in single-ended is
unprecidented.
and that second hand quality valve PP amps, particularly Quad, Radford
and
McIntosh are especially "hot" items.

What does that tell us????

Well, add that info to the *many* sites like the SAC Thailand site I
referenced and I would say the future's looking very bright for valves in
audio!!

Valves or SS, the better legacy 'names' are commanding big money
everywhere (as your dealer is telling you and as the two Sugdens I was
watching on eBay told me) and I suspect you could easily sell empty
cardboard boxes with the names Tannoy or Lowther on them these days!

:-) Indeed. I am happy to have a workshop full of worthless
old retro crap:-))

But I hesitate to suggest why there is great interest in SE - obviously it
could be a 'sound quality' thing (as it is for me) but there's no escaping
the increased publicity and much easier availability of SET amps will have
some effect?

It seems that people find SET pleasing in a musical way.
However, I am not sure if the Chinese presence is a good or a bad
thing. These amps do perhaps give people an "entry level" perspective
into thermionic audio, but at the same time the modest performance
may give the wrong impression of what a valve amp can do.

Few valve amps from Asia are sold through dealers, and so have
very questionable warranty rights. The component and build quality
is not too good at the moment (it will take them a while to get it right)
so failures within the first year are commom. This too creates a negative
impression.

I think it's all very healthy - a number of the people I 'speak to' who
are getting (or have just got) valve amps are quite young, so it's not a
'nostalgia thing' for them and, if it is simply a question of free choice
falling in favour of valves, then all I can safely say is 'Well, it ain't
just me!'!!

There was a whole generation that missed out on thermionic audio.

The members of the music appreciation group to which I belong
(now twenty two strong) have thirteen valve power amps between
them. These people are very serious listeners, so a thermionic
presence well in excess of 50% speaks for itself.


Iain