When to go solid state vs. vacuum?

By what margin do you prefer tubes? If it’s by a considerable margin (like me) then create a list of tube friendly speakers to audition. Keep in mind that a lot of speaker manufactures claim that their speakers are tube friendly because they don’t want to lose that market - and yes, they will play music with tubes, and probably sound pretty good; but when you hear claims that tubes are, overly euphonic, lack dynamics or can’t do bass, that’s because they have been paired with speakers that require the amplifier to operate outside its ideal ratings - and that happens a lot. Tube amplifiers are not nearly as flexible as solid state amps, but inside their comfort zone can be just as lively. Tube watts are expensive. Take that into consideration when determining the specifications of your speakers. You can save a bundle in tubes by keeping the efficiency up. Ask Charles1dad about 300b tubes - you don’t want to need eight of those babies.

If you just kind of prefer tubes but solid state can float your boat, my advise is to go solid state - unless your a pyro.

People paring 3 watt single ended tube amps with 84db 2 ohm speakers to listen to Mahler or Norwegian Death Metal are not to be allowed out if the house without supervision. I'm sticking to what I said...especially the part about "very inefficient" (that means LOW SENSITIVITY) being pretty much the major thing you need to be concerned about with tube amp/speaker matching in most cases. That sentence had at least 2 wimpy qualifiers so I'm safe. Using my carefully thought out and scientifically absolutely accurate and appropriate guidelines gleaned from years of madly stumbling around, you are limited to exactly 126,462 speaker designs that will sound great with any reasonably designed tube amp. Don't let techno geeks keep you from trying things...tube amps are fun (involving...both musically, and by forcing user maintenance "tube swap freak" characteristics out of you...you and your tube amp are IN IT TOGETHER), don't have to be expensive, and when your friends see a tube amp in your house they will think you're cooler than you actually are.

Hi Phaelon,
What speakers are you using these days?

Hi Charles1dad, I still have the Mini Utopias. They're among that group of speakers that can be satisfying with tubes but, at times, can challenge an amplifier. My next speakers will have close to a ruler flat impedance - preferably above 8 ohms, but certainly over six. My problem has been that many of the high efficiency speakers that I find intriguing use somewhat radical solutions, and are difficult to audition. I really dislike committing to anything that I haven’t heard in my system.

“when your friends see a tube amp in your house they will think you're cooler than you actually are.”

LOL - I wish I had your friends Wolf. My friends look at me like I’m a guy who rather use a shovel than a snow blower.