Quote Originally Posted by JohnMichael View Post
I do not dump on tube amps I just have not enjoyed any I have heard. So I am looking no further. You dump much more on SS so get down from the soap box and let people like what they like. You are boring me.
You auditioned 2 tube amps.

I have heard well over 100 Solid state amps. You have no idea if you would enjoy tube amps based on hearing 2 of them (especially when the noted McIntosh line-up has a huge number of detractors within the tube fandom world) just as any tube die hard could not dismiss Solid State by hearing just two.

Just like there are many different tube designs there are many different SS designs - is the SS a single ended design, is it class A, A/B, B (Naim), Class T, is it DC coupled - what kind of transformers. And then what about the hybrids?

The fact is a Krell sounds a LOT closer to a $400 Rotel than a $400 tube amp will sound to a $3000 tube amp. And yet SS guys dole money out for tiny little subtle improvements (none of which they could hear in a blind audition) and dump on Rotel and rave about Krell. But they'll audition 2 tube amps which can have wildly different sonic attributes? What the hell is that? One of the reasons I don't like a lot of SS is the very reason that expensive SS tends to sound too much like a $150 Crown amps I can buy in a pawn shop. It's irritating to spend so much on something that sounds a lot like very cheap audio. Tube amps show dramatic improvements over lower priced kit.

This is not unlike CD replay - same small improvements - going from a $300 cartridge to a $1000 cartridge is a beyond belief improvement - $1000 cd player versus $300 cd player - meh - it's better but it's mostly never beyond belief and in a blind test - well most "fail" - with the cartridges - no one fails they always choose the $1000 cartridge. In other words I want massive upgrades (and I want to hear them - not just see the dollars I spent and assume it's better) for my bucks.

Any given design can beat out others - I liked the Heed amps for under $3000 as well as Sugden - both are Solid State and wildly different from each other.

I even get people who like Bryston - I liked it too - as I said I nearly bought one that's how much I liked it. But I also liked it so much because I only heard umm two tube amplifiers - a Copland and later McIntosh. To me Bryston is a fine place to start out in this hobby - but there is way more out there and the more you hear the less well it held up.