Mosfet amps A true compromise betw. tubes and SS?

Yes Tubegroover, I too was a big fan of the old Counterpoint sound, with their tube/mosfet hybrid amp design. Tried some other mosfet-output SS amps in recent years like Gamut, Belles, Pass. I think the mosfet amps really do give a certain "dimensionality" to the music, and a palpable midrange. Most recently I discovered the Llano Design Trinity amps (small-signal tubes for voltage gain stage, mosfets for output current stage). To me this is the best-sounding design so far. They are fast, clean, and reliable amps (and no mosfet mist!). Plus, not nearly as expensive as Lamm!

I have to disagree with Muralman1 about Pass X. I think these amps are indeed relatively lean in the midrange compared to some other amps, certainly to certain tube amps or hybrid amps. I'm talking "body" in vocals, "wood" in cellos, "resonance" in piano middle registers, and so on, especially when the reference sound is the real thing. The Pass X series is a very clean and well-made amp, but is leaner than the Aleph. I've noticed its lean midrange character even when using tube preamps and tubed CD players to feed it.

Muralman1 - Yes I can see how tube pre + Pass might work well on Apogees. That combo didn't quite do it for me with my Maggies (3.6/R), but of course different systems, cables, listeners, etc. Not just midrange aspects, but a tube preamp seems to ripen up the bass too much for me. I agree that pure tube amps on magnetic planars can sometimes sound slow. (One exception is the Wolcott 200W monoblocks I once home-auditioned....nice but a bit pricey).

I actively biamp my Maggies in order to optimize the bass versus mid/high performance separately. Experimented a lot with various SS amps, and some SS/tube combos for the two amps. Finally settled on using 2 Llano Trinity amps because of (1) their control of the panels, (2) their sonic "tuneability" by rolling the input tubes, (3) just fewer tubes to replace than pure tube amp, and (4) overall reasonable cost of the Trinity amps. (The choice of the 2 input tubes makes such a huge sonic difference with Llano that one must be careful in auditioning one of these amps.) E.g. I like 6DJ8 in the mid/high amp (for detail, imaging) along with 12AT7 in the bass amp (for full yet tight bass). All NOS of course (Maggies are too revealing for anything less).

I'm not sure whether the Trinity is pure class-A either. I use the Trinity 300W for bass and the 200W for mid/highs. They both run too hot to rest your hand on, though. (Definitely not "cool-running" amps). But seems like a 300W class-A amp should get even hotter than this....

Muralman1: O.K. now I see your system setup. As for the tubes, I did like some 1960's Mullard 6DJ8 I put in an ARC LS25 preamp I owned a while back. (Currently I skip a preamp, by using a Wadia CD player only). But in the Llano amp, such Mullards don't seem quite as grainless and refined in the treble as some other classics like Amperex. I'm still experimenting with different types of NOS tubes, and not quite satisfied yet. The Llano's input tube stage provides all the voltage gain in my system, so the tube choice is everything. E.g. 7025/12AX7 are quite musical but lack focus, 5751 have more focus but sound a little muddy, and 6922/6DJ8 character varies wildly with manufacturer. I'm looking for a liquid and grainless midrange with dimensionality, super-sweet treble (to tame the Maggie ribbons), and tight bass. Of course, I guess that's what most people want. I haven't yet tried some of the ones you listed like Siemens, Telefunken, and Sylvania, though. BTW, is your Jolida an integrated amp?