The best place to use tubes is in the preamp and source, adding that wonderful distortion (gulp, I admit it) we tube-lovers thrive on.
A "really good" solid state amplifier will add very little to the signal that it's been fed. Note the emphasis on "really good". Using a quality solid state amplifier downstream allows the infamous "straight-wire-with-mucho-gain" amplifier to feed the preconditioned signal to your transducers with authority. The amp will not add any obvious sonic signature to the music but will provide controlled/consistent power to your speakers. I realize this may sound somewhat theoretical and maybe even a bit of a stretch to some, but there are many "really good" solid state amplifiers on the market. It works for me, even sober.
Jeff
A "really good" solid state amplifier will add very little to the signal that it's been fed. Note the emphasis on "really good". Using a quality solid state amplifier downstream allows the infamous "straight-wire-with-mucho-gain" amplifier to feed the preconditioned signal to your transducers with authority. The amp will not add any obvious sonic signature to the music but will provide controlled/consistent power to your speakers. I realize this may sound somewhat theoretical and maybe even a bit of a stretch to some, but there are many "really good" solid state amplifiers on the market. It works for me, even sober.
Jeff