Tube or solid state amp or amps?

I'm going through the struggle of trying to decide on a new preamp, and whether to go with a good tube or solid state. This all based on what I've read about mating a good tube preamp with a good solid state amp to get the best of both worlds.

I'm a little skeptical of the stuff I read on the huge sound differences between equipment, especially electonics -- it's rather subtle differences that I heard when I got my last amp and preamp -- while some of the descriptions I read would lead me to believe certain equipment would introduce me to an entirely new piece of music...

I've noted that when I attended a lot of classical concerts, my subjective involvement and appreciation of the quality of the music depended greatly on my internal emotional state and expectations. Why wouldn't that also take place when I listen to recorded and amplified music? I have noted my subjective judgement about the sound quality of my own system varies at times.

I think I suffer most from "audiophilia nervosa" when I'm about to make a purchase decision, rather than my day to day listening. I want to get the best value for my money, and become obsessed on the equipment. When I get it I sometimes wonder if the upgrade really got me that much more improvement in sound quality. Of course I have to rationalize that it did, since I did lie down that big wad of money.

I think I may be happiest with my system when I have the least amount of disposable cash. Means I'm a true American consumer I guess, and it keeps all these great companies in business.

Andrewdoan: I have no experience with your specific speakers so I am not at all qualified to suggest what amp may be the "best". I dislike using the word "best" here because there really is no such thing as best. We all have different sonic attributes that are higher priorities than others. And ultimately, we are assembling a system. What may have worked before might not after other system changes.

If you notice my comment above, I am a fan of tube preamps first. But the problem here is that so very few tube preamps bring on the sonic qualities that for me is the whole purpose of running with tubes. And tube gear can be a major pain with tube replacement and the related costs, more heat into the room (a good thing here in Minnesota in the winter) and often greater reliability problems.

Besides the obvious benefits of the great tube products out there, having such components does allow the user to tune the sound to their own liking. My DAC, phono stage, line stage and amps all use 12ax7 and 6DJ8/6922 tubes, as well as a host of other tube types. And one thing I have been able to do is try the various tubes I mentioned before to optimize the sound to my liking. Choosing different brands/models can bring on greater dynamic contrasts or shift the tonality to bring on a greater overall system tonal coherency, etc. This is obviously not something I can do with solid state components. Cable swaps allow for some such sonic changes, but I find that often to gain one major improvement with a cable change, I lose something else that I do not want to give up....unless I really pay a fortune for another cable altogether. At $50-100 a pair for many of these tubes, I can take my system to a whole new level for $1000 that no cable nor other component change of this price can even begin to match.

Recently I dropped in a pair of Telefunken 6DJ8 tubes in the Aesthetix Io and another pair in the Callisto. With these two pairs, I got a sonic improvement over the Mullard gold pin 6922 that exceeded component upgrades I made in the past that costed far more money. And I like the Mullards very much. But the Tele's here are phenomenol in these two products.

Have you noticed the cost to upgrade to the next level of a solid state amp or preamp? It's typically going to cost at least $1000 to move up to gain a worthwhile improevement. A pair of $100 tubes can do the same in many cases.

One final thing on amps and speakers. These really go together as some amps only work well within a certain load impedance. And many speakers require a lot of current to start to perform to their potential. I like to listen to many speakers to find one that stands out from the crowd for me. Then I go through the same exercise to find an amp that brings out that speaker's strengths that caused me to buy that speaker. And only the owner of that speaker can make that final determination.

What made you choose Energy Veritas 2.4 speaker? Surely there are some sonic attributes that caught your attention. Once you identify what these are, then you can audition amps that are reported to excel in the same regard.....as long as those amps can handle the speakers' load.

John

Jafox. Thank you for your post. I have very limited experience with tubes and I hope I will learn more about tubes so I can enjoy tube gears as much as SS. I love my Krell 400xi even though it is not a perfect amp and I am not wasting my time to look for a perfect one. I am abt to finish to set up my SS systems and I choose the intergrated amp for its simplicity and that fits my " golden age" well. I am planning to build another system with tube intergrated amp so I can have the best of both. I don't knock down tube sounds. As a matter of fact, I o love certain things that tube gears can offer while SS cannot and vice versa. Happy listenning.

Raygun - I agree wholeheartedly with all you say. While I can hear the differences between components in my system when comparing side-by-side, and have taken many steps toward better sound, I often wonder if these small steps have added up to enough of a big step to be worth the effort I've put into it.

You're mood while listening is as important a component as anything else. I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to say, and have been tryuing to write it for a while, but I'm just too tired!! But I agree with you, Ray!

It is very reasonable to become very stressed out over spending a large percentage of your disposable income (whether that be hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of $$), yet it is extremely difficult to judge equipment in this state of mind.

Jafox here is a a cable tip you will thank me for if you try it. Stealth Indra IC's and Dream SC's and PC's. Easily as impressive as a MAJOR component upgrade. Once heard you will stop cable shopping.

Bart