Tube in Preamp or Power amp?

First I will say that I like tubes and think they are way cool and can sound really good.

Then I will say my approach, FBOFW, is keep tubes to a minimum because there is additional work involved to care for tube gear properly and there are many ways to get good sound without them as well.

If one will be using tubes, two ways to keep them to a minimum accordingly:

1) use in pre-amp only
2) use in amp and use fairly hi efficiency and tube friendly (higher impedance, not 4 ohm) speakers to keep # of tubes, size cost and complexity to a minimum.

Tubes wear over time and are more noise prone than SS. They also will tend to go bad completely more often.

There is something to be said for keeping things simple and relatively maintenance free. I shoot for that but I still run 6 tubes in my arc pre-amp in my main rig. It sounds really good, but my preference would be for the same quality sound with no tubes to have to deal with. Its probably possible, but so far I have been able to live with just occasional tube related noise and issues without too much pain.

OR if you are one who just loves tubes and the more the merrier no mater what, just have at it! But expect more time and issues dealing with noise and other problems when tubes are not performing up to par compared to the alternative. Tubes tend to get HOT, so chance of fire has to be higher in general I would think, though chances of happening with gear in good working order that is properly cared for is probably not too great. Its a real issue though and worth some consideration. YMMV.

If you like to "play" with your gear, no doubt tubes are a lot more fun. Tube rolling is not hard and can be worthwhile, but not cheap.

OR if you just want to spend time listening rather than playing, probably best to minimize exposure to tubes.

Gotta say, in this day and age, probably a lot more up side for reasonable cost spending time playing/tuning with a tool like Audyssey than playing with tubes. If only Audyssey had that cool retro looking tube glow! YEah I know, apples and oranges, but times and technology changes. Usually best to ride the latest and greatest wave for most up-side. At least that is how I tend to think. Digital processing, done well and made easy, has huge potential upside in playback much as is already the case with most recordings these days. But only if done well.

I think the below which I found in an amazon review on a tube integrated sold there says it all:

"After going through quite a few solid state and a few tube amps, I can't help but think of the wife mistress analogy.
Solid state amp is like a wife who is faithful, reliable, low maintenance, complex, intelligent, multi tasking but cold in bed.
Tube amp on the other hand is like a mistress who is not very reliable, high maintenance, too much fuss, simple but hot in bed."

SAy no more....

...I'll take the "hybrid". :^)

Look what a good digital remastering does for a lot of old tv shows and movies. Why not expect similar results applying digital correction software intelligently to audio as well, if/when needed? God bless remastered CDs! Unless one likes to have various forms of dullness, fuzz and haze intrude on their listening. Why not use it to fix room acoustics, which are almost always sub-optimal otherwise, as well? Its on my list of things to try someday when time and expenses permit. It makes too much sense to just ignore. I know there are at last a handful of participants in these parts these days whose opinions I regard highly that swear by it.

"language challenged self important Dutch Onkyo salesmen"

Google search needs more improvement. Still not much on these guys to be found there.....