tubes or no tubes

What about a hybrid (teh hee)....with a champagne faceplate with black and silver accents.

Glad to help.

Rooze, sounds like the best of all five (?) worlds!?!

Definitely tubes w/those easy load speakers. I was in your shoes once & as someone (many) here said "you'll never look back". Damned if they weren't right. push, push (H. Mann)

Not only should you go tube, you should also consider SET! An 845 or 300B will do the trick with those speakers if the impedance stays pretty flat.

Personally, I have McIntosh tube gear. I don't have any of the above mentioned problems other tube guys talk about. My MC225 was built in 1966 and still has ALL the original tubes. Sounds excellant. I have a MC240 from 1968 that has EH output tubes, the others being original. I still have the GEs for "critical" listening, since they still test fine and sound a bit better. I have an MC275 "reissue" from 97 that has the McIntosh labeled KT88, Svetlana tubes and other Russian built inputs. It is the best sounding and quietest of them all. (It has printed circuits, the older ones are point to point.)
My C22 reissue pre-amp has all McIntosh labeled Chinese built tubes. It sound excellant, too. And quiet!!
Any tubes you get in a Mac or from the Mac Service Department meets the stringent McIntosh specs. Period. If it does not, they don't sell it to you. I understand other companies relabel the "seconds" for their products and, of course, the "seconds" also turn up at retail locations, and auction sites. What, you think they just toss them out?
You get what you pay for. You may want to consider older McIntosh tube gear. It does have a lot of positive attributes. Hey, I don't even have to mess with bias adjustments! More time for MUSIC.....
One final thought: I gave up on SS. TUBES RULE!!