can a tube-o-phile be happy with ss?

As someone said it depends on your speakers, source components (tube or SS or hybrid). The type of amp is going to sway the sonic signature more than the preamp, imo.

I am using a Spectron MK w/V-Cap upgrade that is very musical and not SS or tube sounding. I paired it with a Audio Research LS26 and am happier with the sound vs. the SS preamp I have before. My souce components are a Cary 303/300 and a Magnum Dynalab 609T tuner; the speakers are B&W 803D and the diamond tweeter is much 'friendlier' than their non-diamond tweeters.

I've listened to McIntosh tube amps like the 501 monos with the speakers but miss the speed, overall headroom and soundstage and bottom end punch of the Spectron MK2 (the V-Caps make the amp more liquid sounding).

So,imo, start with speakers you like and then try them with electronics (tube or better SS) until you decide what you like long term.

Can Romeo be happy without Juliet? Can Lloyd suddenly go from tube-o-phile to transistor-phile? (Do transistor-philes exist?). Those of us who have been on both sides of the fence know that you may be okay with SS, but you will never be happy!! You will miss all of the tweaking, tube rolling and all of the other BS that goes with tubes. Why would you want to give that up?

Tweaking? - that's why I have vinyl!!!

Some SS amps provide the best of both worlds with a good tube preamp in front of them (aka McCormack's with the Rev A or better mods, but there are certainly others also).

Enjoy,
Bob

You will miss all of the tweaking, tube rolling and all of the other BS that goes with tubes.

I just miss the sound qualities. I have never had any attachment to tube rolling or tweaking, though I've certainly participated. I prefer to set it and forget it, but I still come back to tubes for certain qualities of sound. Once I find the tubes that work for me I don't change them. BTW, my SET amps auto bias, are stone-simple and I have have never once had a problem with them in 7 years. When I think of it, contrary to some naysayers of tubes I've never had a single problem with any tube component other than a fuse blowing and or a tube arcing in one amp (which was a new Russian-made tube), both of which were isolated incidents, and easy to diagnose and fix. I'm sure I've owned over a dozen tubed components. To be fair, I've also had pretty good luck with SS components: I did once purchase an older Bedini 25/25 SS amp that turned out to need repairs and was returned to the seller eventually, and I was on the verge of wearing out my first SS amp and preamp (BK EX 140 and Superphon Revelation) as both were exhibiting early signs of problems when I sold both (cheaply) at about 10 years old (full disclosure on the sale, of course). Perhaps I'm just lucky - in 25 years I can think of no gross unexpected failures, or maintenance issues that were headaches in that time and with so many components. I'd consider myself a pretty average technically competent individual when it comes to dealing with such technical issues. Oh, no wait a minute, I just thought of an exception. Vinyl!! As much as I love the sound of vinyl I DID find that aspect of this hobby to be a royal PITA as far as tweaking and maintenance. It is just because I prefer to set it and forget it that I eventually (about 14 years in) gave up vinyl altogether and sold my entire record collection. It was not for any failure, but I couldn't stand the amount of maintenance and tweaking it took. I'd much rather spend that time listening to music!

Can Romeo be happy without Juliet? He sure can if he could see her twenty years later from the day he first meet her. To say you can not enjoy a SS amp over tube is nonsense. I am amazed how many think just because it's tube it must be getting me closer the truth. There are bad tube designs as there are ss, and idea of maintenance along with tube rolling does bring us closer to a hobby like setting with individualising the sound to our own taste. What is right for you might not be right to me and so on.