Well, after a year of deciding and hoping someone would introduce a less expensive vacuum tube processor, I stumbled onto the closeout sale of the last 13 or so left of these. R-F sold a bunch of the limited to 50 unit production run at $13K each. I paid $3000 for it brand new in the 100 pound shipping crate. Yes I will be paying it off for 4 months, but it was worth it to me. The amp I am now saving up for is a dedicated 5.1 sand amp with a single triode tube on each of the 5 channels to mellow out the sound. The amp is a Butler 5150 I am saving for now. Time for the big tag sale to sell a bunch of my vintage tube stereo goodies to feed this audio habit. John