Hi there everyone,

I've found the two audio sites I use - DIY Audio and Audio Asylum -
are very much going strong with no noticeable change. Good news, since
they're both very good.

This site is very quiet and so is RAT.

As for ebay, I have at least a year's longitudinal data on the final
prices of all the types of valves I'm interested in, since I keep a
constant eye on the market and note it in Excel. I can say quite
definitely that for Directly Heated Triodes and old Euro rectifiers
with mesh plates the market is pretty much unchanged. That's a niche,
but it's interesting that there are such niches where robust sums of
money are still changing hands. Only in the last few days have there
been some surprisingly cheap sales, but that may be Easter.

Still, I'm glad I sold off most of my valve collection and got good
prices. Should have sold all my camera bodies - I'm going to take a
loss on those I still have (Contax if interested)

My conclusion is that there are general markets and niche markets. If
my sample is anything to go by, niche markets are still good and so
are niche newsgroups.

I'm not interested in ready built commercial stuff like amps, speakers
and the like so have no idea there. I'm strictly componants, and that
market seems pretty steady.

andy