Recommend me a tube integrated amplifier

@ghdprentice

I believe the Audio Research I-50 is a hybrid, not an all-tube integrated. I sold a Vsi60 a while back, and what I disliked  about it - despite its other sterling qualities - was that the sound was a bit "washed out" in the same way that Audio Research SP-11 preamplifier was back in the late '80, when I owned it. It certainly didn’t have the accurate tonal color of instruments the way they sound in any of the halls I frequented (Carnegie, The Metropolitan Opera, David B. Geffen (Avery Fisher at the time!) or the Baltimore Symphony Hall (Meyerhoff), and, if I’m on the West Coast, Davies Hall in San Francisco. The Vsi60 had some great qualities, to be sure, but tonal accuracy? I’m afraid not.

Maybe a Vsi 75 is a better candidate for an "integrated tube amp," perhaps?

Heard Synthesis amps with Audio Note, Harbeth, and ProAc speakers up at Deja Vu audio near DC and fell in love with the sound. I can't recall the model amps I heard that day but I was fortunate enough to get a good deal on a Synthesis A100 Titan from my local shop and it's a great sounding integrated amp, as I've mentioned elsewhere. 

@freediver

I had a Music Fidelity A1 for 10 years before i gave it to my sister. It’s a great little amp, but it doesn’t do what tubes do, which is to present a much more holographic presentation (assuming that that is what’s on the record). It is, however, very clear.

gbmcleod:

The AR i/50 is not a hybrid tube integrated. The audio signal path is all tube, push-pull design. 50W. The solid state elements are the panel controls and the Lexie tube displays. It has a headphone amp that may be solid state and optional solid state DAC and phono preamp modules. Hybrid implies that some components in the audio path are solid state (e.g. tubes in the preamp section but solid state in the amp or the reverse.) The i/50 has tubes in the driver and power sections.

@chenry 

+1. The i50 is my favorite integrated. Whenever I hear one I instantly close my eyes and fall into the music. The most musical and fulfilling integrated I know of. I am constantly wanting to buy one even though I have no where to use it.