I'm glad you answered the way you did because that is what I thought you meant. I examined every beliefe I had in audiophile in the past two years and demanded I have a reason for holding that beliefe. So a little NFB is good/PP done right sounds better to me; I don't have the experience to make a firm judgement on the triode pentode thing but my amp is PP pentodes so maybe that says something. I like the idea of using off-beat tubes not only to save money but to experience different types of sound. thats why the breadboarding thing is important to me; I'd like to try some of the older PP circuits with new and better made transformers. So to paraphrase; it's not cheap for cheap sake but the urge to explore while keeping costs down is the motivation.