Who will survive? One last table til I die.

Raul, I wasn't going to say this, but I do have to respond to your statemnt "I have a lot to learn." Truth is I tracked the rise of the high end over the last thiry years. All these arguments have been made already. While it makes for fun discussions, I have no desire to "prove the world is round again."
If the only thing wrong with tubes is frequency reponse that can easily be fixed. The frequency response of every component, and software for that matter, has had it's frquency respone manipilated.
The faults of transistors seems to be infinite. Usually requiring considerable genuis and money to manipilate.
Harmonic distortion generated by tubes. Heard that argument before. Transistors generate harmonic distortion which is far more objectional.
Yeah I've looked at my share of impedance vs frequency curves. (When I started that was all magazines like Audio did was print measurements.
That's why the salesman tried to sell me a Krell w/my M/L CLS I. M/L has a wicked impedance curve. Technically correct but horrible sound.
"I only care about what makes music the best." If that is true you really should try to stay away from hyperbole like "tubes is clown music." The fact is neither tubes or solid state have been able to get me all the way home. At least in my price range. I even tried hybrids, that did not do it either.
Lastly there is no reason to even respond to the claim that I have not heard the equipment you have unless you want to name that system. If all else fails then fall back on the "goldedn ears" argument. Please, spare me.
Finally I know a musically correct(as opposed to what some call "accurate") system when I hear one. There is no way to prove that. You'll just have to trust me.
Your friend, Gregadd

Hi TWL:*****" So yes, I understand your concerns about the tube amps becoming "equalizers" in theory, but in practice(with a correctly matched system) this concern is not founded in reality. "****. Here it is the point: my concern about is in practice not theory.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Gregadd: That's exactly the point and where the differences are. Think about it and try to change that situation and you will see that you could appreciate more and more the music reproduction at home. That's the way to grow-up in the world of music reproduction.
BTW, till now you are the only one that give an answer to that critical question.
Gregadd I enjoy the music through my system. I do everything to take care about the music reproduction in my audio system. I'm not in love with it it is only a tool ( a very complex one ) for I can hear the music.
Regards and stay enjoying the music.
Raul.

Raul,once again WHAT SS AMP/PREAMP/PHONO DO YOU HAVE?

Uggh, this is suppose to be an analog thread, but I just can't resist countering Rauls outrageous tube amplifier comments. I have designed, built and modified a number of amplifiers, both tube and solid state. So my comments are based on actual listening experience.

Tubes and transistors are both devices that produce gain using similar concepts but with quite different characteristics. Tubes have good linearity (low distortion) but low gain. Transistors on the other hand have very poor linearity (high distortion) and very high gain.

To get around the distortion problems most tube amplifiers and all transistor amplifiers use feedback to eliminate distortion. Here I use the term distortion in a very broad sense, anything that deviates from the original signal including frequency response, noise along, harmonic and IM distortion. More feedback means lower distortion, including the "equalizer" effect that Raul mentioned. Since transistors have very high gain and it is easy to produce lots of feedback and therefore very low distortion, ruler flat frquency response, high damping factor, vanishingly small harmonic distortion, blah, blah. Tube amps on the other hand have much more limited gain and can only produce limited feedback. The result is considerably worse distortion measurments, in spite of the fact that they are lower distortion devices to start with.

But there is a significant hitch to this story. It turns out that feedback has a clearly audible negative effect on sound. To date I don't know of anyone that is able to measure this affect. It does not show up in any of the standard distortion measures. This is part of why there is so much controversy about this topic. I have a lot of first hand listening experience regarding feedback and I assert that this is both real and significant.

So like so many things audio it all boils down to compromise. Feedback brings both good and bad to the table and the optimum balance is both system and taste dependent.
In a given context and a set of personal preferences there will be an optimal balance between feedback and distortion. That optimum balance will not be the same in a different system or with different tastes. So it's never as simple as choice between feedback or no feedback or for that matter tubes or transistors.

The goal for good amplifier design is the lowest possible distortion with the smallest amount of feedback. That means that the amplifier needs to have the lowest possible open loop distortion. Open loop distortion is the level of distortion before feedback is applied. A well designed amplifier implemented with high quality components will require less feedback to arrive at a distortion goal and will therefore sound better.

So if you look at amplifiers from the perspective of levels of feedback the high feedback end of the spectrum is the exclusive domain of trasistor amplifiers. On the opposite end of the spectrum is single ended triode amplifiers with no feedback at all. Each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Personally I find that nirvana is a zero feedback amplifier. But the no feedback path is not for the faint at heart. Everything has to be perfect or you will hear it. Component quality become hugely important. Speaker choices are very limited and there are major speaker/amp synergy issues. Feedback extracts a price but it does make things a lot easier.

Chris