Mid-fi tube vs high-end SS

@decooney  You misunderstand me. I'm very happy with the sound of my system. That comment about the bmr midrange being too neutral is just a concern I have when looking at SS pairing. It's just that reading the reviews of these fantastic SS amps make me really curious.  

A tube pre-amp with SS monos sound enticing but I'm trying to have less tubes in my life. haha. 

My speakers are the Philharmonic BMR towers. 6-ohm 86 db. Easy to drive, confirmed by the designer. My tube amp drives it without a sweat.

I feel like the midrange on the BMR is too neutral. The designed voiced the speaker that way. My preference I want a little more richness to the mids and I'm getting that from the tubes. 

AHB2 is a no-go for me for 2 reasons. Price has gone up from 3k to $3,300 and also its weaknesses are things I value highly. 

Thank you everyone. 

@jaytor  You had some very solid points. To answer your question, the main reason I'm wanting to buy a permanent SS amp is for its convenient. Tubes are getting real expensive to maintain and I want a SS for movies and gaming for my usage as well. 

I was curious to know the kinds of improvements I can get by dropping 4 grand into a new amp. Atm I'm quite happy with the sound of my tubes on all aspects, except for dynamics, but still the dynamics are good enough.

@knotscott  I don't know much about tubes but I've put a significant amount of time into some other tubes I should buy and that tubes I've been meaning to buy is the Tesla ef806s. Thank you. 

@knotscott  The 2 owners are friends, Dennis and Jim Salk. Quite a history between the 2 men. Some years ago Dennis made speakers and sold them for so cheap (high quality) but he made no money, actually lost money and overworked eventually he had to stop completely due to medical reason. Jim Salk then continued on making Dennis speakers to sell to people. Long story short, Dennis has bounced back and has started producing high-value speakers again. Even designed some new speakers for Salk recently around $16,000.

Thank you everyone for your inputs. I should've been clearer in my post. I am not moving away from tubes. Quite the opposite actually. I value my tube times so much that I just want a nice SS on the side for movies, gaming, daytime music listening, so that I could prolong the tubes life for music listening late into the night. Tubes are expensive, Quad KT170 for $550. But the NOS ones I wouldn't know where to get once they run out. 

There are some bangers SS amps at around $4k. The gato 150. The super high-value DVA M225. Frank said these monoblocks are the best amps he'd ever made in the 50 years of amp making. And the Schitt Tyrs. The Tyrs are new, not a lot of reviews but Schitt also said these are the best amps they have ever made. User experience reflects that. Imagine the Schitt Aegir but with way more power, and even better sounding. 

@headphonedreams  Yea the Tyrs are in my top 3. DVA M225 + Tyrs + Gato 150

@lloydc  The good ol' plug and unplug. Physically. I'm a big believer of less is more. Regarding Kt170s, I honestly don't know if the transformers are big enough but the amp is massive and weighs 70lbs. The 4 transformers in my limited knowledge, is quite big. But anyway I talked to the designer and he said it's good, he even recommends the KT170s. 

@hilde45 Yea, the bmr are excellent values. Low sensitivity (86) but easy to drive, mild impedance curves.

@mesch You made a great point and it relates to my question. I love tubes but I don’t require that sound for music. I also love the strengths of what SS bring to the table for music. I was hoping there was a SS I could buy that could match or exceed the muscality of my tube amp for music, while also doing HT and gaming as well. But then any decent power SS can do HT and gaming.

Well I guess nothing beats home trial. I’ve pretty much narrowed amps down to 3 choices. I like a detailed midrange, and an airy neutral or even slightly boosted highs.

My 3 choices are monoblocks DVA M225, Schitt Tyrs, and the integrated Gato 150. I could and should ditch the Gato but I’ve had a love-obsession with its beauty for the past few years. Home trialing is only realistic with the Gato, The Schitt Tyr is buy and be-done since it costs a lot to return. Unsure about DVA.

Edit: After looking around DVA does offer 30-day returns. Gotta pay shipping, brokerage fee and all that. The usuals. 

@lowtubes  Ty for the thorough insights. Really. =)

Thank you everyone.

@mm1tt77 I’ve seriously considered the Coda 8 (whichever the new version is) at used price. One of the well hidden gem, lesser known in America. With the very limited information about the Tyr as of now, The Tyrs are on the level of the Coda, that is very high praise. There’s gonna be a stereophile review of the Tyrs in January for what it’s worth.

@decooney The DVA M225 is 3.4k, The Tyr silvers are very close to 3.9k after tax and shipping which I’m not super thrilled about. I’d love any suggestions even near the 4.5k price range.

@elliottbnewcombjr Yea you’re right. I love this freaking tube amp. Mid-fi in price but not in nature. It has given me many beautiful late night listening, Borderline unforgettable. I’ve tried eq’ing down the bass and the problematic 200-400 hz range in youtube. Long story short there’s a massive difference between music on youtube and lossless. Youtube has this muddiness in the said hz range and lowering the EQ on those brought up the clarity substantially. Funnily enough, running lossless on amaon HD with no EQ, the background is extremely black and a calmness to the music I could never get from youtube. This is a rare review of our two amps.

@elliottbnewcombjr  I think you were talking to me about my speaker/amp and location? I live in Boston. It's an unlikely trek from NJ but if opportunity arises, I'd  to have you over and talk some audios and listening to whatever songs come to mind =)