Teajay, as you stated quality amplification is just that, be it tubes or SS. My flavor of the month is a pair of Audio Note Conquest Silver Signature parallel single ended mono blocks. Matched with my 94db ANe SEC Silver speakers any "hassle" the tubes might bring is inconsequential. Soundstage depth, width, and layering is amazing, and even more importantly, tonal purity, and dynamics. These small 300B space heaters come the closest to the real thing I have heard, mated to an Audio Note "tube" M-3 preamp. Yes, I have experienced the anxiety produced when a tube thinks its the 4th of July, and lets go in all its glory and you wonder if everything downstream has fried. However, until I hear SS give me all this magic, I will not settle for the lazy audiophile's life.
Our we Lazy?
I want to start this thread by clearly stating that the purpose of this question was not to fight or rehash the battle of tube vs. solidstate as one being ultimately superior or better than the other one.I hope that besides personnal taste and the different "flavors" listeners enjoy, along with system matching, there is agreement that in the last ten to fifteen years that reference tube and solidstate amps sound very much alike and more like real music. The days of euphonic warm or detailed but harsh-bright sonic signatures are gone when it comes to world class amps.When my audiofile friends and I discuss power amps we always come back to these questions;1}With the finest solidstate amps[Pass Labs,Rowland,Ayre,Edge,etc.]sounding so terrific, why put up with the hassle of re-tubing,getting the right tubes NOS etc.,and the expense of re-tubing on a on going basis?I guess one man's "tube rolling" for pleasure is another man's pain in the butt.2}The sound of a tube amp changes over time as the tubes age, why put up with this hassle when it can be avoided? We like the fact that a solidstate amp will preform at its optimial level everytime we listen to our systems. Please you all, these questions are sincere and not an attack on tube amps or their owners.As stated already the goal was not to fight over something that is obvious ,world class amps are world class amps regardless if there tube or solidstate! We have listened to wonderful sounding tube amps[VTL,LAMM,ARC,CJ,etc.]and thought they were great, however they offered no special virtues that would lead us to put up with what we regard as "hassles" compared with solidstate amps. We would love to hear from our fellow GON members regarding this topic and what has been your experience regarding this topic.Let's not fight but have FUN sharing our opinions and viewpionts on this topic. Remember we might just be "Lazy" audiofiles who rationalize our own position on this matter!