Oh no , not another phono stage rec

For me, the more that a poster writes in attempts to defend himself about a subject that has no direct relevance to the OP, the more I question the intentions.

Having said that, I think that Saki70's OP is unusually clear and succinct. I think he describes the 834P's traits perfectly; including warm up time which I would put at about an average LP side to sound relatively stable, one entire LP to sound at close to it's best. I like the PV11 recommendation.

Well, I listen mostly to jazz and classical (mostly far more complicated, but
not necessarily all fast); but also a fair amount of fusion jazz and classic
rock. The EAR has PRAT in spades according to my definition of PRAT;
that is, ability to let music be rhythmic in a natural way, and not the
"time stands still", rhythmically and dynamically dead feeling
that I hear in other (mostly solid state) pieces of gear. Now, if for you a little
softening and warming of the sound means reduction in PRAT, then the
EAR is probably not for you. But, it sounds like that is what you are looking
for. I hear the softening primarily in the bass where it can sound a little full
and round compared to others. Soundstaging is stable and generous, and
vocals sound great. It is not thin and bleached-out like a lot of electronics.
The thing about the EAR (and probably the reason it has been popular for
so long is that it has that elusive quality of letting you stop is tending for hi-fi
effects and listen to the music). It has tons of gain (I use it with a passive
pre), and resale value seems to be very good. Good luck.

I know semantics makes these discussions difficult, but there is no way that an amplification device can slow down the tempo or speed of music. They may sound rhythmically lethargic, but not slower in speed.

I've done a lot of tube rolling. Favorites (in order) are: Telefunken 12ax7, Raytheon 7025, GE5751.

I lived with the Jolida for a few months while my EAR was being modified. It is pretty amazing for the money. However, it is not in the same league as the EAR when it comes to natural timbres and natural rhythmic flow. IMO, it is not particularly warm sounding nor as naturally smooth and suave like the EAR. But, it is quite PRAT(Y) although it tends to sound rhythmically aggressive all the time. If you listen mostly to rock this might be the ticket for you. I don't remember the warm up time to be particularly long at all and overall I consider it to fall more into the ss camp than tube camp, sound wise; and it will give you some of the classic tube dimensionality and a little of the warmth. Good luck.