When to go solid state vs. vacuum?

when you have animals (multipal cats and dogs) and smoke alot...SS seems right for the job (me).

other then that...personal preference imho, that can only be sorted out by listening for yourself.

Agree- it is personal taste. If you want great tube sound go OTL, but it will use a lot of energy and put off a lot of heat. I use Nuforce digital switching amps, Monarchy class A solid state, and Transcendent SET OTL tube amps with horns/super tweeters. I have tri-amped front end and the rest are for a surround system. David Shulte has modded most everything of mine ( Upgrade Company) and almost all of the system is XLR balanced. My phono preamp and my preamps are also tube. Tubes are fun to learn about and roll, but can be pricey. To get the really fine detail out of a full tube system is a long journey, but in the end blows everything else out to my ears. Use solid state and or digital switching technology for lows and mids, but class A tubes is the best for the highs.

Kooshballa,
You`ve gotten some good replies,The bottom line is it`s speaker dependent. Some are meant to be driven by by SS amps and other speakers truly come alive with tubes.Narrow your list of speaker and then learn which type of amp will mate best with it.I generally find a good tube power amp sounds better with more realism but it`s ultimately what your own ears tell you.
Best of Luck,

Thank you for all these replies!

Speaker matching? Who can do THAT these days? Unless the speakers are very inefficient or designed by idiots they should work, although tone preference is personal. You can buy a factory upgraded 60wpc Jolida for half the cost of a Primaluna, and the "EZ bias" is simple, accurate (I check this with a meter because I like burning my fingers), and makes a case for NOT having auto-bias (whatEVER). I stuck KT120s in mine with no issues at all. So for a little over a grand you get an amp that has 4 and 8 ohm taps, accepts XLR and RCA inputs, and kicks ass. If you need more juice you can run 2 of 'em in mono for double the power and turn off the heat in the listening room...maybe even use the extra BTUs for warming food or small smelting projects. Get a REL for bass...do all of this now and report back immediately. Go...get out of here...