Tube sound is not about warmth. It's about correct presentation.

Yes, it is, bpoletti. Voicing is another matter.

You accuse me of what you did FIRST after my post to you which was acknowledging your post... "Nitpicking" my post with the word "bickering" ...😁

Discussing politely without using words as bickering or nitpicking in my first post answering someone is what i do ... Can you say the same ?

My best to you....

I will stop here with you ...

@mahgister Yes, I get all that. You seem to rather enjoy nitpicking, isn’t that what you’re doing?

OP, “Tube sound is not about warmth. It’s about correct presentation.”

I absolutely agree. I suspect that the term warm came when solid state entered the picture as it was cold, steely, and harsh… with a compressed midrange. Warmth refers to a fully fleshed out midrange without the sound dominated by harsh trebly distortion.

Presentation. I could not agree more, well designed tube gear gets the presentation right. Solid state tends to over emphasize details, venue and bass slap. This brings up an unnatural presence of the mastering and venue. While it is exciting to hear some violinist move his foot during a performance or the London subway train rattle under the symphony hall… is this really enhancing the music? Or taking the focus off of the music.

Tubes tend to get the presentation right, get the gestalt… the core of the music right. Now some companies have pushed their tube designs to asymmetrical capture the details. But companies like Audio Research, Cary, VAC, and Conrad Johnson have remained true to getting better and better at capturing the music and keeping the presentation real. After ten years of attending all the symphony orchestra conserts in 7th row center seats I can attest to how well they do this. The violins are properly placed… not artificially dropped in my lap. Rock albums do not take the cymbals from the back… carefully integrated into the song and put them in my face. While, it can be exciting to hear this… over the musical spectrum it screws up far more music and the musical experience than it makes sound great.

ghdprentice, excellent post. Not only because I fully agree with what you said.

My experience with tube amps has not been better than solid state. I've liked some tube amps well enough, but I have yet to hear what it is that gets others so excited about them. In any case, I'll agree with the OP's assertion that proper presentation is what I'd want from a tube amp, and I've heard some do it just fine. 

ghdprentice's description suggests that good tube amps sound plain and natural, not exciting or magical. Maybe that's what I failed to understand while listening to them. I've read so many glowing reports of some captivating, mesmerizing, transcendent effect that I expected to be wowed, when that's the opposite of what they do.