no need for all the apologies!! Im not an arbiter of what people should think and my opinion is no better than anyone elses. its nice to see valve amps being talked about per se, and I'm sure the Prima Luna is a good safe bet. A push-pull EL34/KT88/6550 amp giving about 30-40w is standard fare though, and I can think of at least 10 equivelants for the money.. nothing wrong with that, and I dont think that 1k is unreasonable VFM. If it were my cash I'd buy something used, just because maitaining residual value is key to future upgrades for me. I can understand people wanting new however.