I am an Electrical Engineer also. I have designed, built and modified many amplifiers, crossovers, speakers, and other equipment. My criteria for purchasing amps are:
1. Cost. It must be within my price range.
2. Sound quality in my system (not in the store).
3. design and construction quality. It must be designed and constructed well.
4. Specs in the sense that the amp must be able to not only drive my speakers well, it must also match with my pre-amp, operate at the correct voltage and current ratings, be stable over frequency and power range (not oscillate under strange loads) and most important to me, the amp must not color the sound. I try hard to find equipment that minimizes coloration. I want my music to sound as it was intended to sound.
This logic applyies to tube amps as well as solid state amps. I am a music lover. I was a classical violinist (also played sax, clarinet, basoon, oboe, and other instruments). I know what instruments are supposed to sound like (taking into account variations between instrument sounds and quality of contruction).
I equally appreciated a well designed/contructed solid state amp and a tube amp. In my opinion and decades of musical and technical experience, I see nor hear any distinction between two well designed and constructed solid state or tube amps. Yes,yes, third harmonic vs second harmonics. I know. But as an experienced designer, I can tell you that any really good circuit designer worth his/her salt takes many specifications and criteria into account in the design and construction of their equipment, and unless the amps in question are cost no object amps, there are and has to be compromises in the designs and contruction. Has to be. The Engineer has to do the best he/she can under the limitations imposed on them. Also, and really important is that when comparing amps, I believe that a fair comparison must be apples to apples comparison. In other words, the comparison must be on equal basis.
1. Specs must be close or match. Power output ratings for example. You can't compare fairly a 250 wpc amp with a 10 wpc amp and call that fair.
2. price point must be close or equal. You can't fairly compare a $60,000 amp with a $2500 amp and actually call that a fair comparison. But, establish a price point and spec range and go for it. just about every time I see people complaining about solid state amps vs tube amps, I notice that the amps in question are not even close in price or specs.
That is equivalent to comparing the sound of the top of the line piano to the cheap walmart on sale piano. Yes, the pianist will still do wonders, but they and I can both easily tell one is inferior.
So, tube or solid state? I'll take either. As I have stated several times in my previous posts, I have listened to excellent tube and solid state amps. But, (always the but), the speakers the amp must drive has a lot to do with what amp I obtain. Highly efficient speakers? Oh yeah, tube baby. or a low power but really clean solid state amp. But no way do I need 250 watts to drive stupidly efficient speakers. Unfortunately, my speakers are definitely not stupidly efficient and therefore I needed amps that can drive difficult loads and are very clean.
enjoy and Happy Holidays to you all.
