I'm going to buy my first tube amp. I need honest blunt opinions

@pwerahera +1 @decooney "Your speakers needs a good SS amplifier. Some may not agree, but when your impedance drops below 4 ohms, it is a problem for tube amps to drive it. "

I’m glad you posted this to help the OP more. Some people are not looking at the graph above or translating to (needs FLAT response) as they keep talking about speaker sensitivity instead of helpful flat impedance and load - with TUBE amps.

What makes a speaker Tube Amp friendly? Sure any of these tube amps will produce sound, BUT, how does it function, and does it sound good? I came across this old thread, many threads out there like this to understand more.

Link: Tube amp sound - affected by your speakers more than you’d think

If a tube amp’s output transformers are spec’ed for 4-ohm loads, it can do just fine as long as the speaker’s impedance doesn’t dwell much below that for extended periods. I asked this very question to Aric at Aric Audio before I ordered one of his 60w push-pull amps for my Perlisten S7t, which has a nominal 4 but dips below 3 at some points in the bass. He assured me no problem and he was right. The amp sounds wonderful and has absolutely no issues driving the speakers. I also have a couple of high-quality Class A SS amps that put 200+ watts into 4 ohms. I prefer the Aric amp with the Perlistens.

I jumped to tubes about 18 years ago. and I will never regret it.

Being a professional pianist and having made "live" recordings of great classical and acoustic jazz performers, AND having built and hand built soldered heathkits (component by component) as a teenager music and audiophile enthusiast... there is no more alive a sound than a tube system. Even a low-priced one.  If you listen mostly to loud rock, metal or screaming singers, don't bother with tubes, just get more solid state power per channel.

If you want to hear to finesse in music then you gotta go with tubes.  IF you have a friend or colleague or a hifi store (Do they still exist?), I urge you to acquire the RCA CD of Bartok Concerto for Orchestra with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. RCA legendary producers and recording technology innovators! Sit back and listen LISTEN!

Personally I use the weytech Sapphire 300B monoblocks, and with their lowly 18 watts RMS (Yes S.E.T. 300B tubes), they rock my world every time I turn them on!

The founder and designer passed away last year.  They are difficult to find on the market.

I'm keeping my pair of monoblocks

Depends how power-hungry your speakers are, and if they have high-order (18 dB/oct and 24dB/oct) crossovers. If the true Theile/Small efficiency is less than 87 dB/watt/meter, and if the crossover is high-order or employs notch filters, sorry, tube amps are not ideal. Class AB or Class D transistor with 100 to 200 watts is what the speaker wants.

On the other hand, if the speaker has a true Theile/Small efficiency of 90 dB/meter/watt, and the crossover is low-order (6 dB/oct or 12 dB/oct), then tube amps of 35 watts/channel look good. A pair of PP EL34, 6V6, KT66, or KT88 will do the job just fine ... that’s the vast majority of vintage and modern tube amps.

SETs with 8 watts or less ... well, you really do need efficient speakers, and 6.5" to 8" woofers matched with 1" dome tweeters do not qualify. The true Theile/Small efficiency of nearly all 6.5 to 8-inch midwoofers is in the 86 to 88 dB/meter range ... and the woofer, not the tweeter, sets the efficiency of the loudspeaker. There are no magic cabinets that raise the efficiency of the woofer ... the T/S parameters set the efficiency of the woofer, and the entire speaker.

P.S. More complex crossovers are sensitive to source impedance, otherwise called Damping Factor. A very low source impedance, or high Damping Factor, is the hallmark of big-watt transistor amps.

+1@gold prentice I am not confident you will appreciate any of the suggested components give your square room and setup. I would suggest moving the speakers closer together if possible and then moving your chair closer to them aiming for the golden triangle. Then do some room analysis to see how the bass is behaving in the space and consider appropriate treatments. This may yield far greater improvements than swapping out this for that. Once you have gone thru that process and gotten accustomed to the sound then start looking at the upgrade path. Just my 2 cents.