Where do you predict the tube market will go?

[win]

I have a huge collection of 6SN7 tubes. Some pairs cost me between $500-1000, probably more. Collectors love to collect.

I find myself rarely using them. In fact, I never roll tubes anymore. I use a matched quad set of RAY tubes when I need the extra amplification (classical music with crazy dynamic range being the only case). But for the most part I bypass them.

Do we think the value of vintage tubes will continue to go up? I haven't been in the market for them in years so I don't even know the current state of the market. Lots of collectibles exploded in value during COVID and have since come down.

Just wanted to have a discussion about keeping them around or liquidating them. I'm not in a pinch for cash but wanted to hear your opinions. Let's not get into the sonic merits of tubes, that's a discussion for a different thread.

Best

 

[mhardy6647]

Some will, albeit probably not indefinitely.
I cannot imagine paying "$500-1000" for any pair of 6SN7.
They are still plentiful, and there are still many very fine NOS examples floating around.

Sylvania "Bad Boys" and their ilk notwithstanding -- these were small good but unremarkable twin triodes produced in immense quantities for military, commercial, and consumer use for many decades. We're not talking genuine Mullard EL34 or genuine Western Electric 300B, which were of extraordinary quality and are scarce at this point -- and rightfully desirable, even today.

 

[Curvature]

They are antiques. As an investment, I don't know if they are worthwhile. For historical interest, definitely worth it.

Lots of people invest without taking into account their costs (all the costs, including incidentals and time spent) of buying and maintaining their positions. If your bookkeeping is good and you have a decent sense of the pace and price of the market, the answer should be clear. IMO, this is a rigorous question, not a subjective one.

 

[Groove01]

Yes, IMHO I think NOS tubes will continue to go up, or at least maintain within current values.

Obviously, general economic factors will drive behavior as to the degree people will pay NOS premiums vs current production alternatives.

With NOS inventory, what’s there is there and that’s it. The supply is by default limited and becoming more so year over year.

There is some nostalgia to NOS tubes, and a lot of folks like that.

Edit: I would agree with the above posters, definitely NOT an investment. But I won’t sell my current stock largely b/c i got them years ago for cheap and I don’t want to pay the potential replacement price should I ever decide I need or want them - lol.

 

[Purité Audio]

Sell them now while there are still users alive.
Keith

 

[SIY]

Sell them now while there are still users alive.
Keith

I'm thinking the same thing. There's tubes in my stash which have gotten very high in price but I'll likely never use them. So why not realize the cash before the rest of my generation exits the scene and let someone else enjoy the thought of ownership?

 

[DVDdoug]

I can't predict the future. But the market probably won't change that much. Tubes have been technically obsolete since the 60's so I'd think the market would be as stable as any collector market (whatever THAT means). Maybe it depends on who's collecting them... If it's old guys, the number of collectors will diminish as their collections go on the market and the supply increases.

Guitar players still tend to favor tubes for the way they tend distort when overdriven but I don't think most guitar players will pay "collector prices.

They have zero value to me.

 

[JeffS7444]

Impossible to say where values will be in the future, but I'm not paying those kinds of prices for 6SN7s, and even now, I think $300 for a pair of 300bs is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[TurtlePaul]

Like fine china/silver/waterford or an Elvis memorabilia collection. The generation who grew up with the tubes will pass and then it will become super niche. I don't think tubes will come back like vinyl.

 

[Groove01]

I'm thinking the same thing. There's tubes in my stash which have gotten very high in price but I'll likely never use them. So why not realize the cash before the rest of my generation exits the scene and let someone else enjoy the thought of ownership?

I still have multiple tube amps and pre’s, I have a thing for vintage tube gear - lol.

 

[Groove01]

Sell them now while there are still users alive.
Keith

Plenty of guitar guys out there to keep tube demand alive for years to come.

The HiFi tube mkt is actually pretty small in comparison to the guitar users.

 

[raif71]

Sell them now while there are still users alive.
Keith

It is audio forums such as this to educate the future users of tubes so that this art will not die

 

[Robin L]

Ralph Karsten, of Atma-Sphere, now is using class D amps at home and predicts the market will fall apart soon as class D takes over, especially in guitar amps:

Headphonesty

What convinced him had nothing to do with trends and everything to do with engineering and sound quality. Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/07/tube-amp-designer-says-tube-amps-dying/

www.facebook.com

 

[Selkirks]

Ralph Karsten, of Atma-Sphere, now is using class D amps at home and predicts the market will fall apart soon as class D takes over, especially in guitar amps:

Headphonesty

What convinced him had nothing to do with trends and everything to do with engineering and sound quality. Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/07/tube-amp-designer-says-tube-amps-dying/

www.facebook.com

Looks like a Facebook rage bait post for boomers

 

[Grimoire]

Down the tubes.

 

[BurntFinger]

Like vinyl...

 

[Groove01]

but I don't think most guitar players will pay "collector prices.

You might be surprised, the lore can be just as strong there as it is w/ audiophiles

Sylvania GCA7’s cost a fortune and are virtually unobtainable b/c of Eddie Van Halen not b/c of audiophiles. Much to the audiophiles chagrin - lol.

Many of the guitar guys want specific NOS tubes based on their perceived “sound” or behavior/reliability when over driven, etc.

If I use the same tubes as Eddie, I’ll sound like Eddie.

 

[MattHooper]

Ralph Karsten, of Atma-Sphere, now is using class D amps at home and predicts the market will fall apart soon as class D takes over, especially in guitar amps:

Headphonesty

What convinced him had nothing to do with trends and everything to do with engineering and sound quality. Full story: https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/07/tube-amp-designer-says-tube-amps-dying/

www.facebook.com

Yes, I’ve seen Ralph’s opinion on this and I think it’s nonsense.

If the tube market tanks at some point, it certainly is not going to be due to “class D amps.”

The whole point of tube gear for many audiophiles is that - ostensibly at least - it sounds different from neutral solid state gear.
That’s the whole fun of it.

Class D is just another neutral, solid state amplifier technology. We’ve had sonic transparency neutrality available from consumer solid state amps since… what?… the late 60s? The tube market never went away fully.

The only reason somebody like Ralph thinks class D would undermine the tube market is that he’s got a subjective opinion “ finally class D sounds as ‘natural’ as tubes! In fact better!”

So all he’s really going on is his own subjective opinion and current preference, which all sorts of audiophiles are simply not going to share.

And that goes for whether the audiophile impressions of tube amps sounding different or legitimate in some cases or not in others, but due to bias effects. Because even then it’s not like bias effects are going to suddenly go away along with all the characteristics, people attribute to tube amplifiers.

 

[MattHooper]

I have a huge collection of 6SN7 tubes. Some pairs cost me between $500-1000, probably more. Collectors love to collect.

I find myself rarely using them. In fact, I never roll tubes anymore. I use a matched quad set of RAY tubes when I need the extra amplification (classical music with crazy dynamic range being the only case). But for the most part I bypass them.

Do we think the value of vintage tubes will continue to go up? I haven't been in the market for them in years so I don't even know the current state of the market. Lots of collectibles exploded in value during COVID and have since come down.

Just wanted to have a discussion about keeping them around or liquidating them. I'm not in a pinch for cash but wanted to hear your opinions. Let's not get into the sonic merits of tubes, that's a discussion for a different thread.

Best

Well, I certainly don’t know the answer.

But the prices during the Russian tube amp shortage were certainly crazy! Fortunately, I got all my tube rolling in before that point. And I’ve stocked up so I’m not gonna need tubes again. But I’m still a novice as far as that stuff goes.

But I do have some sets of NOS tubes that cost a fair bit more than new tubes, which I don’t use. One set of six 6 - BEL E88CC / 6922 Philips SQ Design tubes I tried in my CJ preamp and didn’t like and went back to the original tubes.

Also, when I started having some distortion from input tubes I somewhat regret that I purchased some Mazda 6FQ7 NOS tubes to replace them. Unfortunately, I tentatively fell for the hype on that. They didn’t sound very good so I had to go searching for 4 GE NOS 6FQ7 Driver Tubes, which are the tubes that originally came with my amplifiers back in the late 90s. And those restored the normal sound of my amps. So I’ve got those Mazda tubes to sell I guess someday, if there’s even a market for them.

I also have the famous NOS SVETLANA WINGED C 6550 power tubes. I lucked into a very good deal on two sets of matched quads. That kind of thing sure doesn’t show up on the market very often these days.
Can’t say they sounded any different from the TungSol 6550’s I’ve been using.

These days I normally using the newer KT120 power tubes. Love ‘em!

 

[Groove01]

I also have the famous NOS SVETLANA WINGED C 6550 power tubes.

Now thats something I absolutely regret not stocking up on when they were readily available.