Tubes vs. SS

Mechans..I have to disagree with your statement totally..Runnning a tube pre with solid state power will give you tube magic.I guess it depends on what grade tube pre you are using.It also eleminates the expensive of constant tube replacement in the power section which I got really tired of. Pre-amp tubes last years.Also rolling tubes in the pre-amp can change the layout of the system tremendously at little cost..IMO its the way to go

I have to agree with Mechans !

I have auditioned different combinations of SS and tubed equipment . If you want to know what tubes sound like you have to do the amp AND the pre ! I have and do suggest that if one wants to experiment , just get a decent integrated and try it . You will probably spend about the same amount and get a TRUE feel for what tubes can do for the presentation .
Once you do that you can then tailor the sound to your particular taste and partnering equipment by rolling the tubes .

For me , tubes bring a sense of life to the music . Something that I have not been able to find with SS equipment costing multiples of my little integrated . And some these SS components are considered to be warm with a
"tube like" sound . But they had no heart ! It is hard for me to describe what tubes do . I could not describe it to the various dealers that I talked to . But when I heard that first all tube presentation I knew that it was what I had been looking for .

Different strokes for different folks !

Good luck .

I also agree with Mechans.

Having done it both ways in my system, the holographic magic came with tube amplification much more than it did with tube preamplification, regardless of 6SN7, 6DJ8 or 12AU7 in the linestage.

I have owned tubed preamps and mated with SS amps for the past several years. Currently I have a BAT VK200 amp and VK5i preamp. I have been very happy with this combo until I borrowed a friends VK55 tube amp. The VK200 sounds very good but the 55 is magic. It doesn't quite have the bass the ss amp does but right now I don't care. The 55 has better mids and highs and the bass is there just not as tight. I think the 55 has a fuller bass and no its not bloaty. I am hearing more into the music with better soundstaging side to side and top to bottom. Much more air and transparency. Music now is more pleasurable to listen to. It just sounds right with this combination.

FWIW, I agree with both Tvad and Mechans. I changed from all SS in 1985 by the introduction of an ARC SP10 pre-amp. Using a Threshold SA3(a VERY nice Class A amp) the overall sound was richer, smoother, and much less fatiguing. I was happy as hell! I could even listen to CD's for the first time. Even driving Thiel speakers! A revelation.

A few years later I got my first electrostats, Quad 63's, and, subsequently due to my dissatisfaction with the sound from the Quads using SS amps, my first tube amp(s). The most immediate difference was the addition of a sense of microdynamics, air, bloom, whatever you want to call it, but it was the anthisis of the lack of dimensionallity I had heard using solid state, including the Thresholds. I've had quite a few tube amps since, but I've never thought for a moment of returning to SS.

I think if I had to make a choice if I could find a good SS pre-amp which sounded neutral, like a passive pre-amp, with added dynamics, I could be contented, if not happy.

You really have to hear what a tube amp actually adds to your system in your home. If you can't hear it, or don't appreciate it, SS can still be very rewarding and surely a lot lest angst involved.