Is there a worthy 6922 presently made?

I have both USA and Holland 'pinched waist' Amperex tubes and $800/pair is probably excessive. Anyway, they are too bright in my system; all amperex tubes are. They actually hurt my ears. I believe it's called tweeter burn. What seems to do the trick for me with my current setup are plain steel pin Mullard 6DJ8s from the 1960s. At $25-40/tube that's not that much more than current production tubes. But isn't that why many of us use tubes? So we can tweek and tune? I hope you do find some current production tubes that suit you. Like twl wrote, that means more NOS for the rest of us.

I've been accused (I think) of being a NOS snob. But look; in the 1950s when the 6DJ8 came into being, it was designed to be used as an RF amplifier for the -then- new UHF TV band. That market was HUGE! Billions and billions of tubes. Companies had the incentive and the means to spend a lot of money on research. Formulas for cathode coatings back then were as closely guarded secrets as the formula for Coca-Cola. Since the market was so huge, tubes being the only game in town, makers of the chemicals for those coatings had an incentive to provide a high purity product to the tube mfrs. We audiophiles may think we are an important market; but we are not. Even so, our market is dominated by the big players like AR who put a lot of price pressure on current mfrs. This can lead to QC issues like vacuum purity. It takes more TIME to achieve a high vacuum and time is money. The 6DJ8, 6922, 7308 family of tubes were designed to be 10,000 hour tubes. A decent pair should last several years. What I have a hard time understanding is why someone would pay thousands of dollars for a piece of equipment and then bitch if he has to pay more than a few bucks for tubes. Sure NOS tubes cost more. But they don't make then like they used to and aren't likely to in the future.

John_tracy: Billions and Billions of 6DJ8? If that is factual there is no scarcity of NOS tubes and the price gouging is even more reprehensible. Where are they?

I said: Billioins and billions of 'tubes'. Not 6DJ8s. If you just take the # of TVs produced in the '50s and '60s and multiply that buy the # of tubes in them plus their replacements, billions and billions may be an exageration; but not by much. With that kind of market companies can afford to spend a whole lot on research and tooling. And in a competitive market there is a lot more incentive for good quality control. Today the market for tubes is neither large or competitive.

It's the current OEMs who dictate the market and they do put a lot of price pressure on the mfrs. of the tubes. They can and do take measures to cut costs. Also, don't forget all the many specialty chemical suppiers who back in the day provided the necessary chemicals for the critical cathode coatings. With the loss of the huge tube market most have moved on to other business. Some of the chemicals suppied today may not be of the same high purity that they were back in the day. I love tubes and I hope you are right that current production will come up to snuff with the NOS tubes of old. But I am not holding my breath and I have my closet stocked with plenty of Mullards, MOVs, Amperexes, RCAs, etc. Enough to last me for the rest of my lifetime.

BTW, I payed $40 recently for a USA 'pinched waist' that is 'phono grade', clear markings, and the original box. I agree that $800 is 'way to much' to pay for a pair of these tubes. Also, regardless of what the seller on Audiogon said, I think the US version has the edge on the Holland ones. I guess he had Hollands for sale. Wonder what he would have claimed if he was selling ones made in New York.