The ups and downs of tube vs. SS...

My first phono preamplifier was a solid state Pro-Ject Phono Box RS MM/MC. I really liked the sound it putout and after reading interviews about the companion Pro-Ject battery powered Power Box RS power supply I purchased it and the Pro-Ject battery powered Power Box RS power supply made the sound of my albums even more dead quiet with an even larger soundstage than using the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS MM/MC alone by itself.

The list price for the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS MM/MC was $999 and the list price for the Pro-Ject battery powered Power Box RS power supply was $749 for a total of $1748 with free shipping.

While doing the research on phono preamplifiers I also was intrigued by the Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono preamplifier. So after about 6 months of enjoying the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS MM/MC and the companion Pro-Ject battery powered Power Box RS power supply I got the 'upgrade' bug/itch and purchased the Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono preamplifier with the stock pair of EH 6922 vacuum tubes for a total of $399 with free shipping.

Based on Shannon Park's, the owner and maker of the Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono preamplifier Exacta loading system that provides 16 settings, I set the Exacta settings to 67.3K which is the MM setting to use for my Shure V15VxMR cartridge with the JICO (Shure) VN5xMR stylus. I was amazed at the transparency, depth, wide soundstage, and dynamic range. The Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono preamplifier is a single ended Class A tube circuit.

Also while researching phono preamplifiers I found out about 'tube rolling'. However I thought that tube rolling is a expensive proposition even though the tubes you roll maybe not that expensive, after rolling 5 to 6 or 7 pairs of tubes, the money spent would add up pretty quickly. So I decide to go for the gusto and buy up. I bought a pair of NOS 6DJ8/ECC88 Telefunken West Germany with diamond mark matched pair for $195 plus Tektronix 576 curve tracer matching for $20, shipping $10 and $4 for insurance for a total of $229 from Brent Jessee Recording and Supply, Inc. Keep in mind it is very important that you buy vacuum tubes from reputable dealers. That being said Brent Jessee Recording and Supply, Inc. has a 30 day return policy with a 20% restocking fee. After less than 30 days I decide to return them.

After seeing Kevin Deal's of Upscale Audio NOS Telefunken E88CC/6922 youtube video I bought a Platinum Grade, Cryoed, matched pair of NOS Telefunken E88CC/6922's for $454. For a total of $853 I bought a Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono preamplifier and pair of NOS Telefunken E88CC/6922's vacuum tubes with the transparency, depth, wide soundstage, and dynamic range as described above with an added 3 Dimensional sound quality I had never heard before that far surpassed the solid state Pro-Ject Phono Box RS MM/MC and Pro-Ject battery powered Power Box RS power supply in sound and price.

Why does it have to be one or the other? Why not both? My house, although small, has more than one room. Tubes in one, solid state in the other. Switch on whichever makes you happy on any given day. The best of both worlds!

Like others here I've owned some powerful, high quality SS amps.  The good ones always sounded terrific... until I compared them back to back with my conrad-johnson tube amps.  Owning both at the same time allowed switching out amplifiers as quickly as changing speaker leads.  Listening back to the same material, the music was always better with tube amplification.  Always more three dimensional and listenable.  Excitingly real.  Maybe it's c-j's philosophy of simple circuits with super high quality parts but it has worked for me over the years without exception.  My music preference is acoustic jazz and classical, not sure this effect works as much with rock music.  If you like music made by acoustic instruments, try a good tube system. It's heavenly.

I drive some very inefficient electrostats that have impedance curves that drop to 1 ohm with big class A power amps.

You might be surprised to find that tube amps can manage a load like that. IME many people think ESLs are inefficient and difficult to drive but I find that isn't completely true- they are often more efficient than thought, and their load can be problematic for certain amps, depending on the ESL.

For example Sound Labs are hard to drive for solid state, as you need about 800 watts to keep up with a 200 watt tube amp on the same speaker. This is because the speaker is 30 ohms in the bass, which knocks the solid state amp down to about 200 watts, while a tube amp is unaffected. At the extreme top end a Sound Lab is 1.5 ohms and our amps (which don't do particularly well with low impedances as they are OTLs) don't have any problems with them.

1 ohm (if correct) is not crazy bad for a tube amp because it occurs at 20KHz where there is little energy. So you might want to try a tube amp on the speaker and see. OTOH, Martin Logan ESLs are typically about 0.5 ohms at 20KHz and no tube amp does them well (they sound rolled off in the highs) without a set of ZEROs (www.zeroimpedance.com) to boost the impedance.

first, i encourage you to buy a reasonably priced tube amp to compare to your SS amp. that is the best way to hear the obvious differences b/w the two. 

the tubes give you the ability to tune your sound more specific to the desires of your ear and to "match" our speakers, both sonically and electrically. 

This is a huge topic with thousands of forum pages written. dont get me wrong, I'm glad this thread started, just trying to offer you more outlets to do some quick reading, learn the basics, and get out fo the starting gate. 

GO TO AN AUDIO SHOW!! you will see literally hundreds of SS and amp units. 

also, many of us, use "hybrid" amp that have tubes in the PreAmp and SS in the Amp section. this gives most of us the best of both worlds. but again, whether a SS amp or Tube, it takes learning and practiced to get a good match b/w amp and speakers. many of us spend years playing around with different units and combos to get different sounds.
Its my hobby, I love it!