What prompted this post from Alex is the large number of high quality tube owners - yourself included - that are participants in this forum. Many of those that own, or are currently building or purchasing Pi Speakers are also tube amp enthusiasts.

I've been in Odessa several times. My brother in law, Alex, and I usually spend most of the time together going places and doing things. Last time I was there, I felt that we should build an electronic ignition system for cars - because many of the people there have cars that still use contact breaker points. So we went to find a 15 amp, 250 volt transistor with gain in excess of 50. That's a perfect output device for a car's spark transformer coil, and the only expensive part in my ignition system's design.

This kind of part in America costs about $15.00 in single unit quantities, and it was less than $5.00 in Odessa. So we built the ignitors for a fraction of what they cost to build in America.

Since I knew that high quality tubes are also expensive, I suggested that Alex look for specific tubes in Odessa - just as we had for the ignition system's transistor. He's a radio man, and so he's as familiar with this stuff as we are, and he has found the best Russian brand - Svetlana. I've given him a couple of tubes to start with - the 300B and the 2A3.

I'm hoping that he will be able to get tubes there at a good price, and then everyone is happy. I also suggest that he be given a list of other popular tubes to find, so he can find information about price and availability for those devices as well.

Thanks for your reply, Stan. This may be good news for Alex, and I'm hoping that it is mutually good news for you, your customers and friends, and others on this forum as well.