Expensive Tube Amplifiers

Only a handful of people can buy a vintage amp and recondition/repair it.  It is true that tube amp technology has been stable for such a long time that one can get topnotch performance out of something 70 years old or longer that can compete in sound quality with something brand new.  That means it does make more sense to reconditioning old tube amplifiers than would be the case of reconditioning a 79 year old car or television and expecting modern day performance and convenience.

Much of the quite high prices for certain really old tube gear is a collector phenomenon and not necessary because of the sound quality--certain Marantz, McIntosh, and Western Electric gear comes to mind (although  much Western Gear can be spectacularly good, the price probably reflects collector interest).

I like a lot of old tube gear as well as new amps made with the right vintage parts.  Most of the best output transformers are vintage, and the same goes for coupling capacitors, carbon composition resistors, etc.  In the not crazy priced camp are a lot of Eico, Scott, and Fisher amplifiers, for example, that can be had already reconditioned for far less money than modern amps that can smoke most modern amps (okay "smoke" might be a bad word choice) costing far more.  But, it still does take some knowledge, experience, and tolerance for disappointment to buy vintage so that will never make it a common choice.

@facten I guess you are right, but knowing the people who tend to be on this subforum, I am always interested in hearing their opinions on other aspects of audiophilia.

So Jim, as per usual, what is your question? And why are you so angry about prices on eBay? (Marantz model 2 for $11K is purely and only about collectors by the way. Vintage Marantz is worth big bucks in Asia.)

I totally disagree that vintage capacitors and resistors are superior to modern equivalents unless you want parts to act as tone controls. Modern parts of best quality are far superior for transparency and reliability. And don’t even think about vintage electrolytic caps. What vintage tube amps do have are often superb output transformers, worth scavenging for use in a modern device. I don’t think you can buy at any price a modern OPT that competes with those from a Marantz model 9.

Note:  A McIntosh MC275 sold for $444 in 1961.  $444 in 1961 is worth $4,810.88 today.  I believe a McIntosh MC275 VI retails for $7500 now.   So, if these numbers are right, which I am not sure, we are looking at 35% more today... 

Lewm,

I don't think vintage caps and resistors are superior to modern ones of the same values.  Many have a particular sound in a particular circuit that might be what the designer is going for, in which case, they are "better" for the circumstance.  I recently heard a modern tube amp that was modified by replacing a modern Mundorf coupling capacitor with a Hovland MusiCap of the same value.  The sound improved, at least to my preference and that of the amp's owner.  Another person might think differently.  But, in either case, there was clearly a different sound for the same value of capacitance and voltage rating. 

Audio Note, a very high end company that makes its own parts--transformers, inductors, resistors and capacitors--that they use in their gear and sell to others.  For some of their better equipment they utilize their own Niobium resistors which are quite expensive.  But, for their very top gear, they use a mystery resistor in key parts of the build--it is not something identified as their own build (it could be) so it is not clear who builds the part but it appears to be some kind of old school carbon composition resistor.  I don't think it is wrong to seek out some of these old parts for their particular sound, but, of course, it takes a lot of experience to know where to employ such parts. 

A local dealer in my area builds custom amps and has an Italian builder make their ultra-high end electronics.  For those builds in Italy, the local dealer finds the parts and sends them to the Italian builder who makes custom electronics specific to the customer's needs.  The local dealer shared with me an audio recording of that Italian builder explaining the choice of a particular paper in oil cap, with the specific choice of year of manufacture of the part being determined by the listening habits of the buyer of the amp--if the amp stays on for many hours at a time, the cap should be from one range of years of manufacture, if the amp stays on for shorter periods, another range of years should be selected.  It comes down to that kind of specialized knowledge for custom high end builds.