How to pick a tubed integrated without hearing one

I was in the same boat as you years ago, no real good shops around, so I pretty much did what stanwal said, research, read, research. Then buy something used here. It usually maintains its value. Put together a system, then start tweaking. Say you want warmer sound, identify your weak companant, sell it right here. Say you lose $50, I think of it like an audition fee, no big deal. Buy the next component and keep going. I have built a really excellent mid-fi system over the years. And don't forget, keep buying the music!!

ok . You hit on my main thought .Should i only go with a name brand for resale purposes . Like rogue,manley,jolida,mcintosh,vincent, those are just a few i can think of without looking at the classifieds.or is there other brands well known for those in the "know" about tubed gear ? To hit on the suggestion of a passive : The only passive i am familiar with is the George lightspeed which is $500 new . That would only leave me with $500 for a amp only ? is that a good combo ?

My Cayin-TA 30 with the right tubes has a great sound and has very surprising bass. It is no longer made but the Primaluna Prolouge 1 is an essential clone with auto bias feature and has received rave reviews. Prior to that I used a restored Fisher 400 receiver with original tubes. It was unbelievably sweet sounding for the money but lacked the bass and overall balance of the Cayin in my system. Of course it did have a fantastic tuner section, and it was all in one unit, which received much approval in my household.

For $1k used there are not a lot of choices, unless you look at some of the Chinese brands, which tend to have pretty poor resale value.

The only 2 brands I'd consider at your budget is the Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum, or the Primaluna Prologue one or two.

Both are well built, reliable and sound good.

As far as tubes go, it really depends on the power you need - 300b and EL34's sound the best, but are low powered - usually under 30wpc. KT88's are also popular at that price point - they are less tubey sounding, but offer more power.

As long as you use a moderately efficient speaker with an 8 ohm nominal impedance, you should be fine with 20-25wpc in a room your size (unless you like to rattle the walls). Subjectively, a 20wpc tube amp will have about the same power as a 50-60wpc solid state amp.

I have three comments:
1- You can look at all of the brochures and online specs, but there is no substitute to listening to an actual amp; preferably in your room with your speakers. I know that this is difficult in your case, but to do otherwise is just rolling the dice. TANSTAAFL

2- How many sources will you be using? If just one (CD player, media server, phono stage, etc.) you can save some money by considering a tube amp w/ gain (or volume) control. One inexpensive example is the Sophia Baby amp, which should run you under $500 used. If you can stretch your budget a bit, the Conrad Johnson CAV-50 is one of the best built and nicest sounding integrated amps ever made. And it will hold it's resale value better than most. But there are lots of other great choices if you consider new, used and vintage.

3- Speakers are key; some (like me) would say that the speaker choice is more critical then the amp. Most (but not all) modern bookshelf speakers are of medium efficiency and do not sound best with low powered tube amps. Do you already have speakers that you are planning to use?