The ups and downs of tube vs. SS...

Two audio shows really shaped my opinions on tube gear. One was a single ended symposium put on by Stereophile mag in the early-mid 90's in Philadelphia and it was the first time I heard SET gear. That day I heard 845 amps, 300b, 211, and 2A3 amps from very well known designers. They were all incredible sounding but the one that caught my ear the most was the least expensive and lowest powered amps the FI 2A3 monoblocks. At 3 wpc, they were able to fill a 40 x 40 room with 104 db horn speakers.

@lou_setriodes , I'm betting that this show was actually the Philadelphia Triode show and it was more like about 1998 or so. I was at that show (and played our amps), and the speakers used were made by what is now known as Classic Audio Loudspeakers, and the Fi was indeed quite impressive. I thought it was the best sounding of all the SETs presented.

I swing both ways.

SS is suitable for headbanger music that requires huge current input, but can also work well with acoustic music if you choose the right amp.

Tube amps are lower output and tend to soften transients (a gross generalization, but...) while presenting a very fluid replication of the music.

Both will work, but how well depends on the rest of your system.

I drive some very inefficient electrostats that have impedance curves that drop to 1 ohm with big class A power amps.

I listen to my main speakers (92 dB) using a 70 watt tube amp that sounds just delightful despite a part of the range being at 3 ohms or a bit less.  When I switch to video use, I switch in a power amp that puts out around 400 watts.

define what sort of music you listen to, and how efficient your speakers are and that will tend to indicate what sort of power amp you should look at.

30+ yrs ago I had a major love affair with tubes in my big living room system: 2 X RM9 tube amps; each w/a pentode/triode switch at base of each of the 8 tubes (EL34 or KT-88). Had a big SS amp on the subs, tubes on everything else...+ a VTL "Ultimate" preamp (tubes).

What is it about tubes? Easy to hear, not so easy to describe. It's a quality of dimensionality, 3D sound from each note. You hear the body of the violin, the rosin on the bow, not just the sharp starting transient of the note. The notes are in space, and there's space around the notes.

Yes, tubes cost. And yes, they tend to poop out a bit on the very bottom and top. Top isn't a problem, since so much else in the stereo chain is over-hyped in the treble to begin with. Bottom can be a problem--that's why I segregate deep bass w/subs driven by SS.

All these years later, just bought my 1st desktop/headphone audio tube unit, a Woo WA3 OTL headphone amp w/preamp outs. It's burning in. Even listening on the "wrong" headphones (ones that aren't high impedance), I can already hear those familiar 3D notes.

I bi-amp, with a tube amp powering my planar mids/ribbon tweeters, and a SS amp powering the cone driver woofers. Best of both worlds, I feel.

But I agree with the people above, like Atmasphere - low order harmonic distortion is the way to go.

For instance, 2nd order harmonics are an octave above. Very rarely in tonal music is adding an octave going to destroy the vibe or harmonic tension/relaxation (dissonance/consonance). I mean, when I write orchestral music, I often ADD instruments in octaves above, to add the warmth and dimension to the sonority!

7th order harmonics, on the other hand, are a diminished 7th (plus 2 octaves) above the fundamental. The odds of this frequency aligning with the musical content you are listening to, is very small. You are going to perceive this as hash or congestion or listening fatigue.

Hope this ramble helps. It may be totally wrong. Jim, I'm a violist, not an acoustician!

I've had a tube preamp from 1990 on along with a SS amp.  I've been very satisfied with the sound, BUT...I now have a TRL DUDE preamp with several upgrades to it and Nuforce Ref 9 V3 SE mono amps with the TDSS Level 3 upgrades including the power supplies.  The sound is to die for in all ways with VMPS RM40 BCSE MLS speakers that are very detailed.  The Ref 9's sounded very good prior to the upgrades, but are now way beyond their stock form in sound.  Many VMPS users like tube amps on top and SS amps on the bottom with an active crossover.  Just being honest.  This last combo is quite a bit more expensive, however.  I've heard my amps with a couple different systems and they are quite spectacular in each.