To Tube or not to Tube......


For quite some time now I've been thinking about switching from a solid state to a tube power amp. My Threshold T-100 has been real good to me and I do like it, but it's really the only "high-end" amp I've ever owned, so it's all I know. I'm intrigued by the "warm" sound of tubes and do have a tubed phono amp and CD player, but I am by no means well-versed in the sound of tube power amps having never really auditioned one. I know that goes against the prevailing wisdom and I should listen before I buy, but I don't think I will have the luxury of doing that.

That being said, I've gone through about 20 pages of this forum reading about the benefits and detriments of tubed power amps but nothing I've read has swayed me either way. The posts I've read have been informative re: bias issues, reliability, blowing fuses or whatever else might blow up or go wrong with the tubs, etc. So, if I were to go the tube route, I would not want deal with too much of that hassle. At lease I know that the amp I have doesn't have any such issues. That's why I was leaning toward amps like BAT with their auto biasing (I also need balanced inputs), and would want at least 60-100 wpc. I would be willing to deal with adjusting bias so long as it was a relatively simple process.

I figured I would pose my main question to the exerts here (and this I did learn for this forum): given what I already have in my system, what tube amp would be a good match for me? My pre-amp is a SS Threshold, JM Lab speakers with a "minimum impedance of 4 Ohms," EAR 834P phono stage, & Unison tube cd player.
Much appreciated.
ebuzz
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I have moved in the other direction. Tubes to solid state.
Rarely have I looked back.
Tubes are such a hassle.
Either they are breaking in or wearing out...
Warm -up time is expensive…
Power is often lacking…
You can never know if your tubes are just right - leading to uncertainty and tube rolling...
Then there are the insane prices for NOS tubes…
If you have a SS amp that is satisfying to you, stick with it and save yourself lots of money and headaches.
Plus, SS designs are more reliable, no question about it no matter what some say.
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OH Mike..... Just when I thought I knew what I was doing!!!! Can you say Monkey wrench! Thanks for the advice. I'm sure there is much validity in what you say!
Are SS amps more reliable? Over decades I've had many tube guitar amps with almost zero failures during rough service, and plenty of SS hifi, PA, bass, and even SS guitar amps that have had serious issues, so I doubt SS amps are actually "more" reliable. I can wait the 30 seconds it takes for tubes to warm up, and unless you have high output mono amps or something with a lot of tubes, it's a few hundred bucks every few years in mandatory tube cost with a lot of great, relatively inexpensive new tubes out there with no actual reason to buy pricey NOS tubes unless you feel like it. Plenty of tube options might be better than ever as far as cost and sound are concerned. My tube amp hastle: turn amp on, enjoy it, turn amp off.