Metropoulos Forum

i guess this is a really dumb question...but why are these a lot less $$$ than others? lower quality?

from what I gather, one of the owners of Valve Art is directly connected to Shuguang, the premier Chinese tube factory. I can only guess that VA's pricing structure is much better than other tube companies that rebrand the Shuguang's (TAD, GT, Ruby, etc.). With lower price points from the manufacturer, the lower "street" or distribution cost.