I like them, but then I would be biased...no pun intended. I have taken these to a couple different area "Bottlehead" aduio meets and they were received very well by other hardcore tubefiles. They are warm and detailed with a good bottom end. They don't hint at their meager 3.5 watts per channel. They will drive my Altec A7's louder than you would want to stay in the room. As for cost, around a $800 investment and a lot of my time.