To all tube lovers.......

Devilboy, I have owned two amps that sound very close to tubes:
Electrocompaniet AW180 and McIntosh Mc402.

I do not agre that Rowland, Nuforce, Krell or Symphonic Line sound like tubes. Those are good amps but they play clearly in the solid state league, Krell being the most forward-sounding.
Rowland and Nuforce class D amps lack upper treble "air" due to the mandatory Class D low-pass output filter, however that's not tube sound in my book.
Good luck with your search.

McIntosh or ARC 100.2

My question is this. This speaker you may purchase, have you listened to it and with what associated electronics ? What does the manufacturer recommend ? Also, what size room do you have and what listening levels do you listen at. The previous posts are all good recommendations, but as a tube owner/lover(I am speaking of you)the sound will be quite different......

In my early days I spent a lot of time with both Krell and Ayre and they do not sound like tubes. I think people mention them because they like them, but they do not fit the criteria of the OP.

I'm also a tube guy at heart but about 12 years ago or so, I went back and forth between a B&K EX442 Sonata (200 into 8, 360 into 4) and a pair of 8417 Paoli M60 monoblocks (highly modded Dyna mkIII's) and was hard pressed to tell the difference. B&K amps cost peanuts compared to what is being mentioned in this thread but are truly tubelike. Other than hi powered B&K, I think a nice hi powered hybrid amp like a Moscode would do the trick; otherwise, a hi powered PP tube amp should work fine....

I agree with Mmike84 that you won't be satisfied with solid state long term but while you are experimenting with it, why not try something like B&K which isn't a lot of money, but a total giantkiller.
good luck,
Lou