I'm sorry. It's a shame you had to learn the hard way, Issabre. I mean this in all sincerity. For so many of us, once we go with tubes, you can never go back to ss. No matter what. SS will NEVER sound like tubes. Ever. Do you ever REALLY listen to ss TRYING to sound like tubes? Full of that mosfet haze(you imposters know who you are). The designer's most "tubelike" amp yet. That is, until his next. Tubes can't be more tubelike, they're ARE tubes! There are MANY simple and complex reasons for this. But it is like comparing Kraft parmesan in the cardboard container to Reggiano Parmigiano from Italy. Or a stuffed animal to a real dog. Yeah, they're the same on some kind of level, but anybody who knows KNOWS! Bite the bullet. Wait a little while. When you have the money saved, go back where you belong. Vandersteens love tubes, and so do YOU. Do the right thing...
The Fourfold path...which way to go?
Ok, I thought I could do it....forsake tubes for solid state. I miss the bloom and liquidity, no matter how smooth the sound, no ss seems to be able to reproduce that crystal glass midrange and high. So now I've got to find the best way to take advantage of both worlds...the tight bass of ss and the glorious midrange and highs of tubes. As I see it, I've got three choices within my budget. 1)I can biamp my Vandersteens using my old Dynaco on top to run the mids and highs, but to do this I'll need a good active crossover 2)Dump my cheap ass Nakamichi CD player and go with either a Tjoeb or Jolida tube output CD player 3)Dump my Aragon Pre amp and go with a Conrad Johnson PV10AL or 4)The cheapest option...get one of those Musical Fidelity "tube buffers" to put between the CD and Pre or the Pre and Amp. I figure that with these four options I can get away for somewhere between 100 and 400 bucks (not including trade in value) Any suggestions? No, I'm not spending more than 400 bucks.