Tube amps - what 3 things…

I have to say that I am enjoying this thread alot, and I am learning quite a bit, being a newcomer to tube amps (I have owned my first for a couple of months now), I get the feeling this rabbit hole runs deep!

Only if you keep digging...

If you don’t have huge power demands I’d recommend Dennis Had Inspire Fire Bottle KT88 SEP amp, and an Inspire LP 3.1 preamp. These products won’t break the bank, especially used, yet their performance is very difficult to top, especially at that price point. For $3k you can get outstanding sound for cheap compared to other products. I’ve had Inspire products since 2016, and happy to have discovered them. Audiogon is well aware of Inspire products!

I am not a EE and no where in the "Ralph" league but I would be careful of auto biasing.  I think it tends to suck the headroom out of tube amps.  Listen to Ralph and to ensure you don't end up with tube amp trying to sound like a solid state amp.

I am not a EE...

Please don't post myths. I can assure that autobiased amps don't suck the headroom out of amps. As long as the bias time constant is long enough, the speakers will be toast long before the autobias affects the gain... assuming you're not trying to drive 80dB speakers with a 20w amp.