Thomas,
I was in the same boat some months ago. I owned the Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary speakers and wanted to try tubes. I purchased a demo model of a Jolida 202BRC integrated amp which is just a few years old. I figured that I could sell it if I didn't like it or if I wanted to upgrade later. Going used (and under $800) was my way of checking out tubes with low risk. Of course, I could tube roll at some point, but for the moment I'm good. As far as the synergy with the Wharfedales goes, the 40 wpc Jolida seems fine (I don't feel the need to turn it up much more than I would with my vintage Sansui 95 wpc solid state integrated amp) and in many ways quite beautiful especially in the midrange, but take that with a grain of salt since this is my first foray with tubes. When I compare the Jolida to my Sansui, I hear differences that many people say they find between tubes and solid state (I know there are plenty of exceptions to the way people characterize such differences.) So I think the Jolida is serving the function of teaching me about tubes. My main point is to echo the previous recommendation to try things out. One way to do that is to buy used with the idea of selling later if you want.
Frank
I was in the same boat some months ago. I owned the Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary speakers and wanted to try tubes. I purchased a demo model of a Jolida 202BRC integrated amp which is just a few years old. I figured that I could sell it if I didn't like it or if I wanted to upgrade later. Going used (and under $800) was my way of checking out tubes with low risk. Of course, I could tube roll at some point, but for the moment I'm good. As far as the synergy with the Wharfedales goes, the 40 wpc Jolida seems fine (I don't feel the need to turn it up much more than I would with my vintage Sansui 95 wpc solid state integrated amp) and in many ways quite beautiful especially in the midrange, but take that with a grain of salt since this is my first foray with tubes. When I compare the Jolida to my Sansui, I hear differences that many people say they find between tubes and solid state (I know there are plenty of exceptions to the way people characterize such differences.) So I think the Jolida is serving the function of teaching me about tubes. My main point is to echo the previous recommendation to try things out. One way to do that is to buy used with the idea of selling later if you want.
Frank