Help learn diff.between SS and Tube

I have had SS for 20 years and have gone to tubes in the last 1+.Yes i gave up some of the bottom ens with the Tube but i got so much more music.I feel much more relaxed and can sit and listen for much longer periods of time.I find SS has the Digital sound and tubes are more like Viynl.I have listened to my tube gear more in the last year thani did to my SS set in the last 5.The Anthem is a solid State amp with a tube preamp built in.In the same price range all tube gear I have heard is a better choice Than the Anthem.

Well I take that back cornfedboy. There is no way I can afford a 50k amp from Boulder. I'm sure the accuphase is in the same ballpark. In any event I don't really require that type of power with the Merlins. By all accounts they are better suited for tubes because of their damping though the Millenium series can be wired to go either way. Thanks for your input. It seems you haven't left too many stones unturned in your journey.

I have owned many solid state amps and have heard most of the others named here. I have yet to find a SS amp that can match the sound of "live" music as well as a tube amp. If you can be satisfied with solid state, go for it. But if you are striving for "real" sound my suggestion is tubes.

Hi Perfectimage. You have a point about speaker matching. I had been running VAC PA 160's with my Martin Logan CLS's and switched to a Mesa Baron. Neither can be described as mushy. The VAC's had better detail, but the Baron has big balls and great flexibility. Since upgrading to E34L tubes the Baron is closer to the VAC's in terms of detail. As you probably know, CLS's are no picnic to drive due to current/voltage demands and very wide impedance swings. My speakers never seemed to open up with a variety of ss amps -- dryer and somewhat analytical compared to the tube amps I tried. Higher powered tube amps drive them with ease and also have a natural, open musical character to them. The Baron was not the most powerful (or most expensive) amp that I auditioned -- I'm not never running it in full pentode still have power to spare. Hell, it's not even breathing hard and I had higher powered ss amps fall apart trying to deal with my speakers' impedance swings. The Wolcotts and Power 3's have the same kind of non-mushy, authoritive presence. I think it comes down to the individual character of each amp and the rest of your system. All that I've mentioned (VAC's excluded) are what I would call big-balls tube amps. Yeah, a 15w single ended OTL will have a different sound. But there are tube products out there that can be balls to the wall when you need it. It's funny... I hear certain ss amps described as being tube-like and certain tube amps as being solid-state like in bass control. Go figure. For my tastes and my speakers, tubes are getting me closer to the music. Happy Holidays.

hi all,

i wonder what synergy there is between tube preamp/solid-state amp, & ss preamp/tube amp? i know many folks get good results w/tubed pre's & ss amps - myself included. i've also heard a couple folks have good results doing it the other way around. i looked into the mesa baron, cuz there was a good deal on one on the 'net recently, but mesa's www specifically recommends *against* using their baron amp w/a tubed preamp. interesting...

doug