Just how much do you spend on tubes per year on average ?

Didn’t mean to make you paranoid @inna 

:)

audphile1, you didn't. One reason why I use these tubes, besides the sound, is that they are known to be very sturdy and reliable. And they are getting more and more expensive. I paid $500 for this quad a little over a year ago, now it is $700-$800 for two matched pairs. Finding matched quad from a reliable or seemingly reliable seller is next to impossible. So yes, there is some pain involved but I will manage.

I have a few tube amps and I haven't had to replace any tunes yet,lol.

I’ve been running tubes for 30 years, and haven’t done many replacements due to wearing out tubes.  Cost wasn’t high enough to pay much attention to until recently, but even with much higher tube costs, the actual annual cost for me is reasonable.  I tend to buy new issue tubes that run $250-$300 per matched quad.

These days I average roughly a thousand hours a year on my tubes, and I’d expect the output tubes to last 2-3 years, and they can go longer depending on how they’re biased....driver and preamp tubes will last nearly twice that.  I track them with a daily spread sheet.  I’ve been tube rolling for the past few years to find the Goldilocks combinations, which means I’ve been swapping them long before they wear out, and I tend to keep them as back ups.  



 

@inna 

"Just how much do you spend on tubes per year on average ?"

Zero.