I once feared telling my friends, family and now the world about my vision of a virtual online community that had its own economy and that this economy would be based on vintage valves / electron tubes / vacuum tubes. I feared that it would undermine my dream and become the next "Gold Rush". Well, it nearly did do just that.
This very article was accidentally published on my website far before it was ever completed. The result was significant. Without even trying and with a website that was barely functional I reached out an influenced an underground society that buys, sells, trades and uses electronic vacuum tubes in a rather significant way. I immediately saw prices rise and then prices drop and stabilize. Emails and phone calls started pouring in and power hungry, crazed individuals, who later admitted to having read this article before contacting me, displayed arrogance and pride in something akin to psychosis.
Needless to say, I quickly pulled this article from my website and replace it with a golden rule basically stating that VTubeAudio members would treat each other with respect at all times. I am only now bringing it out to be read again.
It may sound odd and strange that vacuum tubes are making such a huge comeback but in reality it only makes sense that a consumable commodity that is superior to what was supposed to be the “dominant technology” would eventually become priceless if no one was making it and large masses of people were buying it like they are today. It is as simple as the supply versus demand formula.
This technology is seeing a major resurgence in the Hi Fi audio industry as well as other areas. Whoever possess the most audio grade vacuum tubes at the end of the game is the winner, period! Yeah, that sounds funny when you first hear it but after you get all of the facts and let it sink in it really does start to make sense. Trust me; if you ask an audiophile where to purchase their favorite vacuum tubes they will tell you that all of their dealers are “OUT OF STOCK” and that they are starting to buy tubes on EBay or on the Internet and even the Internet dealers are out of stock and EBay is selling everything but what they are looking for.
The best sounding HI FI audio tubes are nearly gone from the general public. Guys, no kidding, some of the older vacuum tubes really sound amazing compared to the transistor equipment produced over the last 30 years or so. I am unable to explain this noticeable difference in sound quality but over time the science behind it will be irrelevant anyway. It is the joy of having collected a rare and valuable object, passing it down through generations or cashing in when we need it in our old age. Plus you get to listen to it in the meantime and it sounds awesome if Hi Fi audio is your thing of course.
Let me explain or at least reveal something to you guys. Audiophiles are paying over $20,000 for CD players today. One run of speaker wire can cost $20,000 and you need two to four of them for just two speakers. Audiophile power cords can go for $3,000 dollars apiece and that individual will need several of those cords, probably around 10 of them. What makes you think that these individuals will not pay $2,000.00, $1,000.00, $650.00 or $97.00 dollars for a vacuum tube, and then have to buy several more to make everything work? Especially, when in reality, it really does sound better.
No sense arguing that music is at the center of nearly every single living person and some of these people, like me, are really into reproducing hi quality sound. It is surreal and just plain cool, at least to me and obviously, a thriving industry says that many others must feel the same way. Take to heart my coined saying of “save the tubes” and yes, that's my new slogan. Buy v-tubes, put them away and forget about them if it isn’t your thing. In 10 or 15 years sell them to someone like me who is “Tube Crazy” and make a fortune because tubes are going up in value more than 10 times the rate of stocks, 20 times the rate of rare coins and don’t even waste your time with the tried and untrue 401k plans. Of course never put all of your eggs in one basket either. But at least put some of your eggs in the right basket.
Guys, v-tubes are being thrown away by the thousands every year and that is only slowing down because we as a nation and a world are running out of them. Only a handful of companies in Russia are still making them, as far as I can tell, and the tubes that they are currently making aren’t composed of the same rare materials used in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s and so on. The new ones just don’t have the great sound that audiophiles are seeking and the audiophiles of today have deep pockets and the audiophiles of tomorrow will have even deeper pockets.
Then you say, someone will have created something that sounds even better. Who cares, I say, collectors will still want to collect that which is rare and valuable. Just like old coins but better, much better. Take your stock option plans, your 401k plans, and your mutual funds and give me rock solid mega growth with the option of plugging it in and letting it take you back to when music really sounded awesome.
You can see something similar with antiques or vintage radios but tubes do it on a much larger scale for some reason. Buy a few and save them for the long term at least. It can’t cost you more than a few hundred dollars and if you listen to me you will make back 5 to 10 times what you invested. And if you don’t get a huge return on your few hundred or so dollars you really will not have lost much anyway. This is never going to happen in my opinion because tubes are a phenomenon of the stereo and now 5 channel audio arenas.
Now, what about the short term turnover of tubes? Can I make a lot of money immediately from buying a few and selling a few? Sure you can. V-tubes have a fluctuating marketplace not unlike that of the stock market but you have to stay on top of things full time to actually make a profit that way or just get a little lucky. That is what I will be focusing on over the next few weeks. I hope to get some idea of when the low side, low price, occurs and then when do things go back up in price. Already, this is very common in the audio equipment industry and summer is the worst time to sell equipment and of course the best time to buy.
Which is what I am doing and encourage you guys to do. I believe it is time to buy. Buy it all, everything that is good, rare, and currently still available in the vacuum tube arena. There are some v-tubes that haven’t escalated in price, yet. These tubes are affordable and very well may sky rocket one day but are nearly guaranteed to significantly increase in price regardless. Then there are the real gems that are starting to make themselves visible that I will be more than happy to tell you about.
Okay, that is enough for today. Thanks for being the captive audience that I needed to practice on. Even so, can you tell that I believe every word of this?
