Thanks for the info. That 5yr warranty on a tube is quite amazing. Hopefully, some of their new amps will be in the 15wpc range, which to me, is where the "useful" power range begins.

Once tried a pair of Dennis Had's 572 amps (based on the Russian 572 tube) and could would get <1000hr before the tube(s) would implode (they ran very hot). Great sounding 20wpc SET amps, but feeding it tubes was an expensive proposition. The 5yr warranty makes the $1299 price for a pair of WE 300Bs a reasonable proposition.

For anyone comfortable around a soldering iron, some basic assembly and following directions, a 300B tube amp can be built in a few evenings. http://www.thetubestore.com/Parts-Ac...-8600-Tube-Amp

Several excellent 300B kits available. Another nice one, from Canada, are the ANK 300B monoblock amps: http://www.ankaudiokits.com/Legend-3...Amplifier.html which has the option of 18wpc.
Bottlehead: https://bottlehead.com/product/kaiju...amplifier-kit/
There are two or three other high quality kit makers, including another very nice one from Japan that is a deep red in finish and whose name escapes me at the moment.

Hello folks,

After a few days with these tubes, I am completely blown away by their sound.
There is so much finesse and intimacy. So much involvement and connection to the music. The resolution is incredible, presenting the sound in an infinite panel of colors and textures. And all this refinement get the same level of quality for impacts and dynamics.
The sense of realism is the very best I ever heard from any amp.
Maybe there is no "magic" in the WE 300B. Maybe that all the others are just "simulacres" of the 300B ?
WE are rare. They are expensive. But honestly it is a disaster to use something else in a well designed 300B amplifier.
There is a world between the WE and the other 300B's I listened to, from JJ to EH, from Gold Lion to Emission Labs...
If your speakers can be happy with only 8W, then your way to Nirvana just takes a pair of these tubes into a well designed 300B amplifier.
If you are already using 300B amps and do not have WE tubes in them, you are having a locked treasure box full of jewels and you do not have the key.
If your speakers need more than 8W, then....change them ! [emoji23]
I know that I am expressing myself in a kind of "heavy" and "Trumpy" way.
But that is the only way I know to tell you how good these tubes are.

Jérome, do I understand well: you kind of like them a little?! :-)

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji122]

So will you be keeping these Jerome or waiting for the WE new production?

Hello Serge,

My friend may want to buy a Koetsu so he may be willing to sell this pair. But the price will be 2500 euros. I think that I will buy a new production pair to compare with this one.

Ouch! 2500 euro for tubes that have an unknown amount of life left is pricey. The new tubes come with warranty.

Serge,
They are unused and they test like new. But I agree. 2500 euros for 2 tubes is very expensive but that is the market price for NOS WE.