As with yourself, I love tubes - not necessarily just vintage stuff though and I almost went the tube tuner route ala McIntosh some years ago.
Before I did the deed, I had an opportunity to listen to a Accuphase 101 in my system (all tubes) and I must tell you how impressed I was. Not only with all the tuner performance criteria (the spec's re reception) but the analogue output. When tuned to a good classical station the output was crystal clear, not warm, not cold, not grainy, not anything but crystal clear! Love it still. Its now about 30 years old and everything works just like new.
Don't write off some of these old SS tuners. You may not need tubes. BTW I owned Sansui TU717, Magnum, and Perreaux tuners before this purchase. Not even close in build or sonics with any of these. FWIW.
Before I did the deed, I had an opportunity to listen to a Accuphase 101 in my system (all tubes) and I must tell you how impressed I was. Not only with all the tuner performance criteria (the spec's re reception) but the analogue output. When tuned to a good classical station the output was crystal clear, not warm, not cold, not grainy, not anything but crystal clear! Love it still. Its now about 30 years old and everything works just like new.
Don't write off some of these old SS tuners. You may not need tubes. BTW I owned Sansui TU717, Magnum, and Perreaux tuners before this purchase. Not even close in build or sonics with any of these. FWIW.