To Tube or not to Tube......


For quite some time now I've been thinking about switching from a solid state to a tube power amp. My Threshold T-100 has been real good to me and I do like it, but it's really the only "high-end" amp I've ever owned, so it's all I know. I'm intrigued by the "warm" sound of tubes and do have a tubed phono amp and CD player, but I am by no means well-versed in the sound of tube power amps having never really auditioned one. I know that goes against the prevailing wisdom and I should listen before I buy, but I don't think I will have the luxury of doing that.

That being said, I've gone through about 20 pages of this forum reading about the benefits and detriments of tubed power amps but nothing I've read has swayed me either way. The posts I've read have been informative re: bias issues, reliability, blowing fuses or whatever else might blow up or go wrong with the tubs, etc. So, if I were to go the tube route, I would not want deal with too much of that hassle. At lease I know that the amp I have doesn't have any such issues. That's why I was leaning toward amps like BAT with their auto biasing (I also need balanced inputs), and would want at least 60-100 wpc. I would be willing to deal with adjusting bias so long as it was a relatively simple process.

I figured I would pose my main question to the exerts here (and this I did learn for this forum): given what I already have in my system, what tube amp would be a good match for me? My pre-amp is a SS Threshold, JM Lab speakers with a "minimum impedance of 4 Ohms," EAR 834P phono stage, & Unison tube cd player.
Much appreciated.
ebuzz
Unisond: I confess that I am not as conversant in all the technical terms we use in this business or what they all mean. I checked the specs and on the back of the speakers it says: "impedance mini 4 ohm". But in the brochure that came with the speakers it says:
"nominal impedance 6 ohm
Minimal impedance 5 ohm
Sensitivity 90 dB
Max power175w"
So are they 4, 5, or 6 ohm speakers?
Ebuzz- They would be considered 6 ohm w a relatively flat impedance curve. Together w the 90 db sensitivity (and assuming no really unusual phase angles) they would be considered "tube friendly".
consider the Music Reference RM200 for sale here. Not warm sounding but great tube sound, bulletproof reliability, properly fused output tubes, multiple speaker taps, tube longevity, easy to bias & live with - only 4 output tubes putting out a real 100wpc.