Expensive Tube Amplifiers

@dogearedaudio 

I've made a mental note of the Heathkit W-2, thanks for the tip. Meanwhile, these "Musician’s Amplifier" replicas are quite an interesting project.

PP vs SE many many Years passed I rejected SE Amp' and had PP Amp's commission built.

Today and only recently I have PP and SE side by side in the system and am struggling to reinstate the PP, as the SE is just so much wanted to be kept in use.

The OP refers to expensive Amp's in the Thread Title and then in the OP refers to $4K to $8K as a guidance on costs witnessed.

This is not expensive for Valve Amp's, when my PP Amp's were Commission Built the Output and Power Tranx's that were Bespoke Produced for the design and Hand Wound by a individual known for their skills, come with cost close to $8K during the 1990's. Large Hunks of Copper are not cheap, and Valve Amps thrive on such a partnership.

I have PP Valve Amp's owned and still able to be used, that fall into the price range referred to in the OP, and in comparison to the main PP Amp' they compare as being likeable but are discernible for their being very inferior for the End Sound capable of being produced. 

The loss of Prejudice towards SE has now got me revisiting SS Power Amp's, of which I have a design in my system at present and will be investigating another design shortly.

think the OP has forgotten inflation ran away for a few years. Everything went up. 

I own pushpull and SET amps and my current favorite is a very low powered 349 pushpull amp (around 5 wpc).  My SET is a parallel 2a3 amp. 

In the universe of amps I've heard, my favorite is a pair of custom-built OTL amps that, I believe put out only 20 wpc.  The owner said he "might" sell the pair if offered $250k.  My second favorite is a pushpull 252 amp that is also very low powered and would probably cost around $250k, but I don't know the current market rate (not much market activity for something like this).  In short, I don't think any particular topology is inherently superior and one can find many good examples of each type.

I would choose an amplifier after choosing speakers, because proper matching of those two elements is essential to success. In the late 70s I fixated on ESLs after a brief flirtation with Maggie. That’s why I’ve owned nothing but tube OTL amplifiers although I built a Williamson type using vintage Acrosound OPTs and a pair of 807 output tubes in PP, for a video system.