First visit to a real audio store.

[wfontenot]

That price is probably for the v.2 Studio series. Prices went up by 15 to 25 percent when they went to the v.3 series. Current list prices on the Studio series are $800 for the 20 and $1,100 for the 40.

Tubes can sound nice, but they are definitely a matter of preference. The tube setups that I've liked best have been hybrid setups, with tubes in the preamp and solid state components in the output stage.

My studio 40's retailed for 1K, but the dealer dropped the price to 800. I also listened to the hybrid jolidas, but the pure tube was an improvement over the hybrid.