Thats a fair point if your buying gear, but the single ended / high efficiency lends itself to those with diy skillsIndeed, owning a valve amplifier is a little like owning a high performance sports car, in that the running costs are going to be higher, but then everything "high performance" comes at a price. Hopefully more Porsche and Mercedes than Ferrari or McLaren..
The last single ended amp I've built used a mosfet output stage and one valve driving that, all for less than the cost of a decent output transformers, and in my case exceeded the performance of every set amp I've built or heard to date.
I run an audio meet in Doncaster every year, there's one next month where we compare all sorts of kit, mostly diyers but we have a few traders amongst us, Brook audio and nick gorham (longdog etc.) will be there as enthusiast's.
There will be a few set amps and high efficiency speakers, some of which where very low cost as hifi goes. Details are on the audio talk forum if anyone is interested.