Tube or solid state amp or amps?

I like my tubes in the front end and prefer solid state amplfication. Some of these new tube amp designs sound more like good solid state but comes with the hassle of tube replacement.

solid state is a miserable state. it pierces your ears and gives you audio fears.

be a resistor of the transistor.

solid state is miniaturization without representation.

it's like listening to a bunch of elves play their instruments amongst themmselves.

solid state has a sonic signature, a hardness than won't go away even if you put a tube preamp in front of it.

Mrtennis,

Open your mind and your ears. What you are saying is patently untrue (in some instances).

Mrtennis I agree with you that there are solid state amps that can be ear piercing when poorly matched but there are also warm sounding ss amps that can appreciate a tube front end without the nasties. With some experience one can make a call as to what preamp to match to a ss amp and what interconnects to use to either increase brightness or reduce it. Send me a power amp and I'll know after listening to it what I need to do to make it sound the way I want. I have two large bags of interconnects and can choose from that what I need to make corrections. Someone once said in the threads, give an audiophile an amp & he can build a system around it.

Good post Phd, but I much prefer to build a system around a preamp and speakers. And only a half a dozen preamps out there cut it for me vs. so many many great TT's, CDP's and amps. It all starts with a tube preamp.