My comments are not theory nor intended to be a blanket statement for all SS & tube amps. This is how things have played out for me over the past decade.
I had a Parasound HCA2200ii that is 250x2 or 750x1. I listened to one for several years and then picked up a 2nd to try them as monoblocks. While having both, I took a leap of faith and bought a pair of Audio Research Classic 120s. These are 110 watts each. I did A-B testing against a single Parasound and both. The ARC amps had more volume and an overall sweeter sound in both comparisons. I later bought the Parasound HCA 3500 as I always admired that beast and had the same result....those 110 tube watts still out performed the SS amps. My old preamp is B&K so I later picked up a B&K 200.2 s2 amp that is 250x2. This is my backup amp in case my tube amps have any trouble. I recently had some tubes fail that are way past their expected life. Long story, but I feared there was other issues and took the ARC amps out of the system to consider a trip to the shop. I hooked up my B&K and I just sighed with disappointment. The music simply doesn’t have the realism I get from the tubes. Now I did something weird but it was a cool experiment. The more I thought about the ARC amps, maybe it was simply a bad tube so I should have at least tried swapping tubes before lugging them to a shop. I replaced the bank of 4 where I had some red-plating. I hooked that amp back up for the R channel while the B&K was still running the L channel. I didn’t get the SPL meter out but the R speaker was significantly louder where the soundstage was shifted where the voices were almost centered on the R speaker. I would use the balance and go back and forth and it was remarkable even with just one speaker how much better the tubes sound. I realize I am not in the best class of SS amps here but Parasound and B&K are both well reviewed and respected amplifiers.
NOW....the cool factor here, my Platinum Audio Quattro floor standers have an efficiency rating of 86db!! This shouldn’t work, right?!?! What’s going on here. Don’t get obsessed with high wattage ratings. I haven’t heard one, but a friend of mine that has decades of tube amp experience recently got an ARC REF 75. These amps are said to be magical at only 75wpc. He was blown away at the dynamics he gets from his Wilson Audio Sophias. This would most likely be all the power any of us would ever need.
If you like your speakers, take the leap of faith and choose a tube amp. You may need to change speakers later, but once you sit back and spend an evening with the music they create, you will never go back! I tried to like SS better as there is no maintenance or worry of tube failure. There is no on-going expense of replacing tubes. All that doesn’t matter as the tubes are simply superior in the music they create....IN MY SYSTEM.
Good luck!
I had a Parasound HCA2200ii that is 250x2 or 750x1. I listened to one for several years and then picked up a 2nd to try them as monoblocks. While having both, I took a leap of faith and bought a pair of Audio Research Classic 120s. These are 110 watts each. I did A-B testing against a single Parasound and both. The ARC amps had more volume and an overall sweeter sound in both comparisons. I later bought the Parasound HCA 3500 as I always admired that beast and had the same result....those 110 tube watts still out performed the SS amps. My old preamp is B&K so I later picked up a B&K 200.2 s2 amp that is 250x2. This is my backup amp in case my tube amps have any trouble. I recently had some tubes fail that are way past their expected life. Long story, but I feared there was other issues and took the ARC amps out of the system to consider a trip to the shop. I hooked up my B&K and I just sighed with disappointment. The music simply doesn’t have the realism I get from the tubes. Now I did something weird but it was a cool experiment. The more I thought about the ARC amps, maybe it was simply a bad tube so I should have at least tried swapping tubes before lugging them to a shop. I replaced the bank of 4 where I had some red-plating. I hooked that amp back up for the R channel while the B&K was still running the L channel. I didn’t get the SPL meter out but the R speaker was significantly louder where the soundstage was shifted where the voices were almost centered on the R speaker. I would use the balance and go back and forth and it was remarkable even with just one speaker how much better the tubes sound. I realize I am not in the best class of SS amps here but Parasound and B&K are both well reviewed and respected amplifiers.
NOW....the cool factor here, my Platinum Audio Quattro floor standers have an efficiency rating of 86db!! This shouldn’t work, right?!?! What’s going on here. Don’t get obsessed with high wattage ratings. I haven’t heard one, but a friend of mine that has decades of tube amp experience recently got an ARC REF 75. These amps are said to be magical at only 75wpc. He was blown away at the dynamics he gets from his Wilson Audio Sophias. This would most likely be all the power any of us would ever need.
If you like your speakers, take the leap of faith and choose a tube amp. You may need to change speakers later, but once you sit back and spend an evening with the music they create, you will never go back! I tried to like SS better as there is no maintenance or worry of tube failure. There is no on-going expense of replacing tubes. All that doesn’t matter as the tubes are simply superior in the music they create....IN MY SYSTEM.
Good luck!