Mara,
Lets see in your first post you say that SS has less Harmonic distortion than a tube amp. Now all of a sudden that has no value. Please make up your mind. Tube amps offer many advantages. Tubes are more linear devices than SS components. Tube equiment uses less complex circuitry (this comes from the school that simplier is better). Tubes "break up" more gracefully. Tubes need less negative feedback. Tubes also operate in a much higher voltage potential enabling them to swing more voltage, thus sound more powerful. SS amps on the other hand are "current amplifiers that swing current but need more negative feedback which takes away the musicality of the gear. SS amps are quieter due to no output transformer, but the more complex circuitry required for SS equipment can rob the amp of signal purity. One also must consider the Power supply of a tube amp. The higher working voltages present in tube amplifiers generally allows better voltage swing capability and better headroom. This higher working voltage yields higher audible energy storage with a lower value capacitor (audible energy storage is voltage squared divided by 2 multiplied by capacitance) Compare 600 working volts of tube amplifiers vs. 80 working volts of transistor amplifiers. This is most likely why many listeners feel that tubes sound more powerful.
