But it arrived in perfect shape, and the first pleasant surprise came as I opended the box. It was double boxed in sturdy cardboard boxes, and the amp was cradled inside a foam packing frame that softens any bumps and keeps it a couple of inches away from the sides of the box, just as an expensive high end amp would be packaged.

The second surprise was that a pair of interconnects, a pair of speaker cables, and a power cord were included, and the manual, though brief, is perfectly readable.

The third surprise was when I removed the tranformer cover and the bottom panel and discovered a fairly big toroidal power transformer above the chassis. Below the chassis I spotted Multicap coupling caps, a choke in the power supply, and a big paper-in-oil smoothing cap.

Oh and it sounds good too. Especially when you consider the $299 price. I notice the Ebay seller has raised the price to $399, but it's still a bargain at that price. To find it go to Ebay, Consumer Electronics, Home Audio, Amplifiers, and search using the term "KT88"

• Sound Creative SET Amp

I've been listening all afternoon, and I really like what I'm hearing. They have that SET midrange magic with a more convincing soundstage than any of my other amps. Of course if it dies in a couple of months there's nobody to send it back to for repair, but I'm sure I could talk one of the Bottleheads who understands tubes to trouble shoot it. Even if it had a major failure like a blown power transformer I would be out only $299, so I'm not too concerned. Also, at 10 watts they have enough power to drive an efficient speaker like the ART array or the Studio One Pi.

I took another look at the coupling caps, Not only are they Multicaps, they're PPFXS polypropylene and tin foil, and not the less expensive PPMFX metallized polypropylene caps. I wouldn't expect to find these in any but the better (read more expensive) high end tube amps.

Actually, on the price issue, Chinese currency has recently strengthened against the dollar, so this may be rippling across the board on Chinese imports. I just bought a Chinese-built cello for my wife's birthday (Thursday) and it had just taken a 10% hit compared to the price on the shop's web site. (And no, it isn't the retailer getting cute and making a fast buck. This is a husband & wife team in the woods of VT who are both professional cellists and mostly deal in $4k - $10k 30-100 year old instruments. The one I just purchased is neither.

Just went through my Junk Mail box, and it turns out all kinds of non-junk is finding its way there!

I would love to have brought Jo-Ann, but all the darn shows are during the school year and she's way too responsible to take off just for fun.

We just went to pick up the cello this past weekend. What a blast. She had never laid hands on a cello or bow before and was afraid she wouldn't be able to make a sound. Watching her realize she could DO this was a great treat.

• Cello Adventure