I heard a 40 watt tube integrated and it didn't sound that great. Lots of reviews and forum posts have also stated the same.
Found another great possibility-- Rogue Tempest with 90 watts, well reviewed and in my price range.
However, when i was at the dealer, i demoed 550 watt monoblocks with a tube pre. The sound was just unbeatable-- and completely professional sounding. It even beat the pants off the Musical Fidelity A5.5 (the cary, too), which has 250 watts of power. I don't know if its just because they are monoblocks, or using a pre and amp instead of an integrated, but the sound was great.
It's a hard decision. All tube sound with the Cary was very nice. But having 550 watts behind it gave a completely new sound.
Anyone have any opinions on using the DAC/tube pre and 200watt monoblocks? Thanks!!! Worried it may have lots of power, but not quite the beautiful "tube" sound of the Cary.
One final thing, i'm currently running my ushers with a Harman Kardon avr 230- about 65 ss watts. It's not bad or anything, but definitely want to add tube sound to it, and upgrade to a better amp to fully utilize the speaker's full potential.
Thanks!!