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WE417A tube prices

174.60.66.20

I really thought with the economy sluggish that tube prices would level off. I bought my pair of NOS WE417A's for $100 about 18 months ago (from ebay.)

Now it seems these are impossible to find, when they do show up on ebay even the WE 5842 version they sell for nearly $100 each used. Almost 100% inflation in 18 months.

I had a nice NOS amperex 5842 pair that I put up for safe keeping and now can't find, I paid $30 for the pair but never listened to them, now these are expensive.

Even the later Raytheon 5842's are getting pricey.

This is a spud amp so all the sound signature is from the one tube anyone know why these have become so expensive in just the last year? Any reliable place to find a pair of WE417's? If not what do folks recommended, is there a good year/brand of 5842's to look for? Or should I just convert over to 6c45pi ?

Follow Ups:

RE: WE417A tube prices - JSTRM 20:57:22 01/15/12 (0)
Hello!
Fell free to contact me. I have some NOS/NIB JAN WE 5842 and some Raytheon's also.
V/r
jstrm
RE: WE417A tube prices - Neff 08:38:56 01/15/12 (0)
No deals on the better or rare tubes. It's supply & demand. Plus, quite a few audiophiles have extraordinary funding. I remember I shipped some tubes to Hong Kong and the address atarted apartment 1 to 10. It appeared the audiophile was renting 10 apartments as one unit. $50K per month?
RE: maybe it is catching on - bean 07:23:21 01/15/12 (1)
it's a very nice tube; my go-to tube for the input on a transformer coupled DHT PP amp

I personally think that the Amperex sounds as good, or nearly as good, as the WE so I leave the WE to to "collectors"

I ran Raytheons for a while, but they are really nowhere near the Amperex or WE.
- RE: maybe it is catching on - Stuben 09:57:51 01/15/12 (0)
  I had the same results...
  
  WE
  Amperex
  
  Raytheon is a distant 3rd
  
  If you think about it, this valve provides medium mu with the transconductance of a hot rod low mu triode...very amazing actually IMHO...and it's not that difficult to apply as long as you cover all of the grids with stoppers.
  
  Stuben

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