Tubes vs Solid State

I always liked SS sound. The Bel Canto REF1000M's (ss) do a great job with the 802.

First of all I want to thank you all for the great feedback. It really answers most of my questions. It seems like in the home-theatre setup I intend to use the amps, and the speakers which I intend to use them with, solid state will make more sense and is probably more practical. If I quickly want to watch a movie it will be frustrating to allow for warm-up time first. In South Africa, where I live, it might also be difficult and expensive to find replacement tubes. I am nevertheless still very much intrigued by tubes and will have to go that route soon. I have a normal two channel system in my bedroom with B&W 804 diamonds. Maybe I should start with a smaller tube amp there ? Perhaps any thoughts on what I can use on them ? Perhaps a ARC of around 100 Watts into 8 ohms ?
The message which I am getting from your responses, and please correct me if I am wrong; Tubes are like a beautiful but difficult woman. The times she brakes your heart make the good times even more special.
Thanks again for the great response to my first posting.

Us the right tool for the job at hand. B&W's work better with ss, some other speakers work better with tubes. Choose your speakers, then choose the appropriate amplification.

Bradluke0,
Your experiences and evolution mirrors mine,there`s no turning back.

Gfdt, You are most likely better off with SS amps given your goals with the current setup/speakers you have.There`s really nothing difficult about tube amplifiers, with the right speakers you`ll probably love them.
Best of L uck,

As Ralph (I am assuming it was Ralph for Atmasphere) said, it is all in the matching- I have used tube amps since the very early 70's and have used many ARC products during that time. ( I currently use very low powered SET tube amps by Lamm, but while the amp i have is wonderful, it is not suited for all speakers). I tend to like smaller rather than bigger tube amps, in part due to the size, complexity, heat, retubing cost, etc. I'm sure that big ARC amp would be killer in the right application.

As far as tube availability goes, I buy most of my tubes from vendors over the phone/Internet, so location is not a big deal. (I don't even know of a brick and mortar store I could go to, even in NYC, to buy a tube these days).
If you are open to experimentation, and want to play around with tubes, why not experiment with a tube preamp to get started? And you could have some fun 'rolling' tubes and getting to see how different tubes affect the sound. (Just be aware, those little preamp tubes can cost much more than big power tubes, if you are buying 'new old stock' vintage tubes).
Tubes make real magic with electrostatic speakers: Quads, Martin Logans, etc. If you were willing to buy a decent pair of electrostats and a decent tube power amp, you could quickly see what tubes can do and how they differ in sound from SS. Atmasphere's amps and a good pair of electrostats would be killer. (I am currently using horns, but have two pairs of Quads, a 63 and a 57, and those are all marvelous on modest e.g. 60 watts or less tube amps- in fact i have the original Quad amps that match my Quad 57's and with 12 or 14 watts, they are a perfect match).
Today, there are some marvelous solid state amps, at least toward the top of the food chain. So, despite my long history with tube amps and preamps, I'm not advocating a 'tube is better than ss' view; again, it has to do with matching, to the speakers, to the preamp (and the source components) and ultimately, to your ears.