If I'm looking for "Tube Sound", why would I put a Tube Pre in front of a SS amp?

no the best tube sound when you actually put your speakers inside tube. to make it happen you definitely need to roll either one tube for both speakers or per each speaker.

@mapman

I agree completely with your post with one exception, "expense". Personally, I believe it is expensive to make great sound at home these days

While I’m sure you would agree that whether or not something is expensive can be subjective, I think its fair to assume that everyone’s system is in one way or another dictated by the cost of their components. In my particular case all of my components were chosen wisely from the perspective of value (i.e. best sound for the money). If money were no object I would surely have a different setup, or an additional setup for that matter! :)

But, lets be truthful and real hear. Tube is better than solid state? I don't think so. Nor do I believe that Solid state is better than tube.

What tubes do better than transistors is not make higher ordered harmonic distortions to which the ear is very sensitive and also perceives as irritating.

That's not a matter of opinion its a simple fact and not a matter of debate.

If you don't believe me ask Nelson Pass or John Curl, two of the best solid state designers in the world.

All designers worth their salt realize they won't get rid of distortion. The question then  becomes how to design the amplifier to make the least amount of the most irritating types of distortion. If you read their materials you will find that both of the above designers are very aware of this fact and it is their pragmatic nature that allows them to design some of the best solid state amps made.

Now what solid state does better than tubes is they can drive a wider range of loudspeakers while maintaining flat frequency response (although the latter is often a function of how much negative feedback the amplifier employs).

This is why I was careful to make my points in my prior posts the way I did. I did not say that 'tubes are better'- end of discussion. I pointed out what their strengths are in the context of this thread.  It is true that not everyone will like the facts as stated, but just because we don't like a fact does not change its reality. 

Atmasphere I cannot explain why but I have also found good modern Class D amplifiers to not be "irritating" as well as some of the others you identify.

I’ve owned and heard some other SS amps as well that qualify.

Maybe the non irritating amp club has some other perhaps more anonymous or lesser known members these days?

Pass and Curl may be the trailblazers but it seems others have practically followed in their path in one way or another.

Nobody wants to buy an irritating amp that I know of so designers who do would have to be considered lacking if others have proven it possible. I’d hire someone else to design my amps for me if my guy did not do things "right".

Whatever the technical details my ears clearly tell me tube amps do not have the good sound market cornered these days even if perhaps that was true to a greater extent in the not so recent past.

@mapman I've regarded the Class D technology as a sort of rising star. I've yet to hear one that beats a good tube amp in my system but I've not heard them all by any means. I use a class D amp in my keyboard setup in my band and it works pretty well- better than the traditional solid state amp I used before- I get what you say about not having the same artifacts.

However that seems to play to my point which is to use a tube preamp and a solid state (class D) amp rather than the other way around. Is anyone making a class D preamp yet? A quick google search didn't find any examples.