Tube Amps and Cabling

Mechans is correct. I may have overstated the impact of simply moving from solid state to tubes in that a well designed solid state amp will likely sound better than a poorly designed tube amp. However, if you do end up going with a VAC integrated, I'm confident it should be an upgrade from most if not all comparably priced solid state integrateds.

What speakers do you intend to use and which VAC integrated would you pair them with?

Tube amps typically are more sensitive to things like speaker cable length than ss amps. On the other hand some ss amps might be more sensitive with unusual speaker cables like Alpha-Core Goertz.

Pdreher, Rrog and Mechans,
Thank you very much for your comments. They are most helpful.

Pdreher,
I am looking at the VAC Sigma 160i. I have Joseph Audio Pulsar monitors. I have read they are a good match with VAC amplifiers.

I have found that tube amps do not do well with a heavy gage cable.16 or 14 gage is best.

VAC Sigma 160i & Joseph Audio Pulsar should be an outstanding combo. I would not hesitate to pull the trigger on any VAC integrated. If funds are an issue, you should be able to find a used VAC Avatar, Avatar SE or Super for less than $4K.