Tubes vs Solid State - Imaging, Soundstaging, 3D

I became sarcastic only after being incited because of my stated preference toward SS gear in a thread heavily defended by tube guys. People know they can push my buttons and incite this kind of reaction in me our of sheer frustration, that's why they push. I'm over the passive aggressive behavior in this thread and other threads and being painted as the aggressor. This is going to stay with me a long time, and it will be a very long time before I post again in this forum.

LOL!, I was going to post, I agree with Davide256 post, I prefer the sound of both ss and tubes together!, solid state amp and tube pre-amp, or tube digital player with analog balanced volume control, the mix of solid state and tubes together may be exactly what you are looking for, It works very well for me, the best of both worlds!, however, I would not use a 6h30 tube based anything with high quality solid state amps, to me, the sound is to sterile and can be analitical, A good 12Au7, 12aux7 tube componet matched to a very good solid state amp sounds pretty good to me, very magical and real sounding to say the least to my ears, Happy listening.

It's good that Mirthless Mel is taking a break from this forum before the wheels come off of what's left of his rational mind. If you have to ask if my opening statement was ironic, I have to assume you're maybe Dutch.

I'm not a proponent of anything in particular, I merely respond to what I know is bullshit, or when people agree with me, as I am clearly weak and need support...my guitar amps, especially a recently acquired 18 watt class A one, are EXTREMELY high current. And chicks dig it. Otherwise I suggest re-reading my posts to see the truth and calmly displayed well reasoned personl opinions I've garnered from years of being an unsophisticated charlatan.

Michaelkingdom,
You have the right approach, just continue to listen to a variety of amps. If
SS suits you better, go for it. There's definitely no right or wrong with either
type of amplifier.

Mel, your response is bewildering to me. I don't understand the persecution
complex and the defensiveness, come on we're just discussing audio. It
shouldn't have to be so emotional and serious to get you this upset. I
sincerely appreciate your comments and different opinions.
Charles,

Something that isn't discussed nearly as often as the tonal qualities of good tube amps is the way that tube amps handle dynamics; particularly micro-dynamics. While I can't claim to have owned any of the very top ss amps, I have owned several very decent ones (Levinson, Classe, BEL, PS Audio), and have heard some of the uber-highend models in others' systems. To my ears, the tube amps that I have owned (Berning, Audio Research, my current Manley's, and even a rusty old Dynaco) exibit a certain sophistication in the way they reproduce dynamics. There is less of the "stepped" sensation that I hear from ss oftentimes. I hear a seamlessness when going from soft to medium soft or from very loud to loud (for example) that let's the expressive aspects of a musical performance sound more realistic. There is more of a sense of the music being alive.