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

The answer is easy. Small children, you are only home 2-3 hours some days, spend your time with your family. They grow up fast and then they are gone, get your sh!t together man.

@1manomet,
I guess music appreciation isn't high on your list.
B

I love my MC240 amp.  It does sound better, especially playing piano music.  It is paired with APT Holman preamp, and AR90 speakers.  Paid $50 for the AR90s, had to replace the surrounds.
I also have 3 sets of Adcom amps/preamps, with various speakers, (KLH, Pioneer) and they sound just fine to me.
I pretty much leave them all on all the time, even when there is no music playing, and have not replaced any tubes in the Mac in the year or 2 that I have had it.  Before I bought the Mac, the seller had it checked out by a specialist shop.
I am content, but seem to have an endless curiosity about speakers.  I bought some Klipsch KG4 speakers, wanted to try out those horns, liked them at first, but got weary of them pretty quickly, will sell them when I get around to it. Found out that I prefer the old KLH and even the old Pioneers, both pairs cost less than $100.
I use cheap thick speaker wire.
My source is a big external hard drive on my desk top computer.
I download torrents from P2P sites, all HD (eg flac), never bother with MP3, so it's all free.
I concede that vinyl might sound better, but I cannot be bothered trying to keep vinyl clean.  I have a dog, and I live in the country, and there is lots of dust in my environment.  Clean hard drive sounds better than dirty vinyl.
Also I love the convenience of finding/selecting on the computer.
Makes it easy to "stack" some music when I go the bed.  Or choose a song that I am trying to learn, and be able to have it repeat without putting my guitar down.  Or copy onto a cd to play in the car.

@jtweed , thanks a bunch for starting this ’The ups and downs of tube vs. SS...’ discussion because I never would have found out or known anything about the Fisher 500C integrated all tube receiver.

@sunrayjack12and @geoffkait, ditto for bringing up in this discussion this little known jewel to me, the Fisher 500C tube integrated all tube receiver. After doing some research I found that this receiver is one of or if not the best value of integrated all tube receiver ever made!

I started my research here: STEVE HOFFMAN music forum - ’FISHER all-tube receivers from 1961-66 are cheap and sound wonderful!’ 2010.

I then stumbled across the Analog Engineering Associates website and found they restore customers Fisher integrated all tube receivers and sell restored Fisher integrated all tube receivers for as little as $1000. Please see here: http://aeaaudio.com/product/fisher-500c-gold-restoration-sold/.

Coincidently, today I will be picking up a SVS PB12 Plus/2 subwoofer with the 12.3 speaker upgrades specifically for its ability to be connected to vintage receivers.

I sure am glad I held on to my vintage Henry Kloss KLH Model Seventeen’s. I will be cleaning out my closet of all my 30 - 45 watt analog, solid state, and vintage Pioneer, Technics, Scott, and Cambridge receivers, turntables, speakers and whatever else I have around the house and selling those items just so I can one day buy me a Fisher integrated all tube receiver.

Tube are nice , "But" unreliable ,  The bias bad tubes go wrong all the time . I can not make year without a problem my amp is in the shop know. Got a year out of it 1st week there was problem I fix it my self  after a year I had to send it out . They do sound nice . There are some very good SS out there  "BIG BUCKS" Best bet intergrated amp with tube preamp easy to replace and the tubes are 10 bucks