I'm thinking of getting into tubes, what do you

Thanks to everyone for their advice. However, I'm leaving tubes behind. The combo was really starting to open up and was starting sound pretty good when a tube or tubes in the preamp decided to act up. I called Kevin at Upscale audio and after describing the sound he agreed that it was probably one of the tubes. So, I sold the VK-30 as needing tubes. However I might stay with BAT solid state designs.

Hi,
sorry to see you let go of tube. It's common to replace tubes and tube rolling, for me, is half the fun. I'm currently running Bat cdp and pre with a ss. amp. With revealing speakers tube rolling will allow you to "tune" the sound to your personal taste. Eventhough I'm relatively new with all this stuff and tubes was intimidating at first, changing them is as simple as changing a light bulb. There are good resources on tubes available on the net. Check out Joe's tube lore to get some basic information.

Don't feel bad about the VK-30 as I was never a big fan of their product. One best example would be the reissued Marantz 9.... the worst amp ever in terms of quality. Many of my friends bought it, tried it, and dumped it. Guess who build them for Marantz?

Hi S23chang,
BAT? I really don't have any idea. A Marantz SACD player is on my 'short' list. And I'm going to go to a BAT dealer and listen to their solid state stuff. I hope it will sound better than the tube equipment I tried. Other things in this price range just seem so 'junky'. The old Krell I had that I liked; KAS 2s, KRC-HR w/ Ref phono, KPS 20i, Krell BAFs, that stuff is all getting too old to spend good money on. Especially, now that money is in much shorter supply.
Hi Mhu,
I know a lot of people consider that to be fun. I don't. I find it annoying in the extreme to go to my listening room for some much needed musical escape just to find I have some bad tubes. Nope, no fun at all. Plus experimenting with the different tubes can cost as much as a component change in a hurry. Or, some cables anyway.

Hello again.I was a tube fanatic for many years,but had given a demonstration one week.Very impressive,customer came back the next week and the tubes had to be rebiased after each song.Unsatisfactory! I found the Lamm M1.1s very satisfying and I see a pair on the AGon for $6500?????
I am expecting my first tube amps in many a year.I looked for an amp with as few tubes as possible and an autobias circuit.I feel it it manditory to use NOS tubes as they last considerably longer than current production tubes modeled after the "classics".Just thought I would toss in my two cents.Happy listening.