question about ss or tubes

Nice coming home to read the above responses. Thanks guys. Smrex13 that was just the first hand experience between those units I was looking for. Very sweet. It seems and I'm just thinking out loud, that I see more chinooks on the used market than I do the Sutherlands and I would love to know why that is. 
Minori, I'm with ya I'm not in an either or frame of mind myself, yet. As I learn about what's important to me it seems those qualities come from tubes. But that could change to. I'm really attracted to quiet black backgrounds and great stereo separation with units that are dual mono like the whests and liberty's, et al., both of which seem to be great strengths on the solid state side. 
WolfG, cool job dude. I'll trade ya. 

You have a very nice system, I would look at upgrading your grado cartridge, it's strengths do not include loads of detail.  Good Luck

Thank you for the compliment and I can't say I haven't thought about the cart myself. Out of curiosity I auditioned the Dyna 12d3 I think it was. It's the one that has the super short diamond cantilever. That went into one of Bobs devices. I had no expectations but I could not believe how badly it sounded. Like nails on a chalkboard, detailed yes, but noisy, brittle. I wasn't sure what to think. I set it up carefully. I'm a complete noob with mc. That was my first try. I was thinking that it might have been because my system is tuned around the Grado and maybe that's why.
 A 12au7 in the linestage went out recently and I'm currently running from the tape outs of the Quick and into a passive that has brought about a nice degree of refinement and detail. It is one of the reasons that has led me to really consider what a less long in the tooth more modern option might be able to wring out of the grooves without losing the essential character of what I love about the sound. If I did go for a cart change given some of the background, any ideas? The Grado is gonna need retipping or exchanging in the not too distant future. 

Grados do fine with detail- just like any other cartridge, care and feeding is important (IOW they have to be set up properly).

When was the last time you got the tubes tested in your Quicksilver? Maybe they just need replacement?

I experimented with tube rolling, but after some frustrations, I went back to the Audio Research chosen tubes.