Tubes vs Solid State - Imaging, Soundstaging, 3D

Melbguy1- I'm sorry for your loss. If you review Wolf's other posts, you will see that his comment was entirely in keeping w his usual irreverence. With regard to the actual subject matter here, you say

In my experience solid-state amplifiers have the tendency to grab and hold my attention for longer than tubes do. I think this is because I visually listen to the music and am constantly trying to figure out where a guitarist is standing, how close the singer is to the microphone, how many microphones were used for the drums, etc.

Isn't that exactly the problem w ss amps? You're thinking about the engineering of the recording and where the guitar player is standing, not experiencing the music and appreciating the artist's gift to us. I would describe your response as "analytical" vs. what many "tube-ophiles" describe as an emotional response. And maybe that's the yin and yang of this discussion. Different strokes for different folks, YMMV, IMHO, LSMFT, SQ3R ;-) BTW, that means that the last sentence was meant in a light-hearted, playful manner, not trying to be rude or sarcastic. OK, that new last sentence was sort of sarcastic. My bad. Relax; it's all good. Any sorry again for your loss. It will get better over time and remember it wouldn't hurt so much if there hadn't been so much love.

"The audio topics are fun but overall not important. "

Amen to that, brother!

That's quite a compliment, Al. Thanks, much. I'm sorry to hear about loss. My sincerest condolences. Your muddy cyberfriend and fellow Nutmegger.

Michael