Vote

I owned solid-state, ya Krell, but my wife said it sounded like a burning sensation in her ears when a violin was being played. I did not get this impression. The amp was a Krell KST-100, and the speakers ribbon types called Minors. The ears of women are known to be better than men so I gave her the benifit of the doubt. It payed off after trading the Krell for a Golden Tube SE-40. My wife said after a minute that the sound was beautiful, I agree. Now for the Wavelength Duetto to replace the Golden-Tube and a good SE seaker to replace the Minors. Oh the stuff replaced are going in the bedroom.

Unless you only listen to jazz and other forms of elevator music, you almost require solid amplification to stand a chance of getting 'you are their' dynamics and speed of reproduction--maybe 30k ARC monoblocks might come close, but for me a big Krell or Levinson amp will take the cake any day.

I have been quite happy with a hybrid pre- and power amp. But I have had good expereinces with all kind of systems. I would love to have different systems for different rooms/moods/music.

Love my single-ended solid-state Pass Aleph 3's. All the power I need with the Avalon Monitors to play symphonies, chamber music or jazz. Class A in every aspect!

It really depends on what I'm listening to. For home theater, I like solid-state amplifiers like Adcom. For chamber and classical music, I prefer tube amplifiers with single-ended triodes.

Solid-state for the most part. However, If Linn made a tubed amp, I would try it out.

While I can appreciate the sound of some valve power amps I've never had a demonstration where a tube didn't fail. This and not trusting my two young sons around all that hot delicate glassware, not to mention the obscene prices of the fashionable output tubes mean I'll be sticking with solid state. Most valve pre-amps I've auditioned are reliable, safe and cheap to run however so there may come a time when I buy a tube pre-amp but never a tube power amp. I don't feel that overall tubes sound better than transistors or vice versa it's all down to the individual design.

I certainly enjoy the sound of a nice tube, but you can't beat the reliability of solid-state.

KR Enterprise's "vacuum transistor" is the next leap forward in amplifier technology.

I,ve listened to a number of amps Krell, Macintosh, Classe, BAT, Bryston, Threshhold, Goldmund, Audio Reseach, Sonic Frontiers, and VTL. The amps I probrably will buy will be tube base. The others despite all their merits cannot reproduce a subtlity of of a human voice as well as tube. There is a reason why most recording studios use tube preamps when recording acoustic vocal tracts.

TUBES RULE! Ever since I switched to tube amplification---a connie-j Premier 11a---I find myself listening to and enjoying music a lot more---usually into the wee hours of the morning! All my non-audiophile friends and neighbors, too, comment that my system has never sounded better. OTOH, I also love SET amps despite their limitations and I am sure I will own one of 'em, together with one push-pull tube amp, in the future.

I'll vote for solid-state, but I run tubes in the sane places: my pre-amp and CD player. I get some of the tube benefits without much pain.

I have yet to experience SET, but I will say that six months ago I switched from SS to tube and I will never go back. Tubes actually make CDs listenable.

Listen to an Ongaku or Kegon and there is no contest.

I've only had extensive experience with components costing under $2000/- each, and at that price level, solid state sounds good with all the nasties removes, but tubes still sound problematic. Lack of dynamics, high noise floor etc. Tubes are tweaky and I wouldn't mind building my own tube amp for the fun of it.

Single-ended plays music. Everything else plays hi-fi.

At the high end spectrum of the market there seems to be a sonic convergence between solid-state and tubes. just choose whatever that you like.

To my ears, music sounds smoother, sweeter, more human, and more lifelike through tubes. I find that tubes work magic on electrostatic speakers. Some prefer the faster sound and higher resolution of, e.g., Spectral. It is a matter of taste.

None

I have had solid state (naim 250), no bass because of reduced bandwidth. Went on to a hybrid Musical Fidelity F15 great improvement. But as I had some spare change I moved to a C-j Premier 11a Promoted initially by your review. Audio heaven - beautifully controlled through out the audio range, firm taut bass, -no bloat- great mids and highs.

Let`s have some decent dynamics and drive, and NO soggy bass or syrup-like treble.

I'm currently in the final stages of assembling a two-channel audio-only system. One of the big questions was, tube or solid-state? Since I wanted to try speakers of various technologies and efficiencies, I picked up a decent (new) solid-state amp (200Wpc) and a similarly priced (used) tube amp (45Wpc). After listening to several different speakers loaned by friends and dealers, it didn't take long to make up my mind. The tube amp drew me into the music, and played as loud as I care to listen. The solid-state amp is for sale.

I'm a tube virgin.

cost vs performance of solid state hard to beat with tubes would love to have tubes but power/cost ratio too high and maintenance is pain with tubes

Tubes are inaccurate, require lengthy warm-ups, and are unstable and unreliable. These retro geeks are after a smoother sound and are not interested in hearing the recording as it was recorded.

I prefer a tube preamp combined with a solid-state amp (e.g., Audible Illusions Modulus 3A and Classé CA-100). This gives the warmth and impact I like all at once, with little compromise, in a cost-effective way.

Anything other than a good SETA is like wearing a condom.

There is obviously a market for tube gear, but maybe Stereophile should consider publishing a different magazine for these products. I shall never buy tube gear again in my life, and therefore find that coverage for these products is a waste of editorial resources.

The advances in solid-state have been so incredible that the tube trade-off (hassle, expense, limited dynamic range) is not worth it anymore. Today, the average audiophile can buy advanced solid-state technology for a third of what it cost five years ago.

When price is an object, one hits some limitations of transistors and tubes. I've chosen the BAT VK-5i as a preamp (tube) and VK-500 as an amp (solid state.) Let the tubes do their thing at low signal levels and the transistors do their high power work. If cost was no object, I would probably go for an all tube system, however. My previous SE system was configured the same way, with a 6922 preamp and MOSFET amp. My positive experience with that combination led me keep the same kind of combo when I upgraded.