Tube or solid state amp or amps?

So many unknown variables around, but I think, at the end it is very important what type of music you typically listen. If modern rock, pop, blues - electronic music - than solid state perhaps a good option, if classical music: tubes are somewhat better re-creating tonal shades of life acoustic music.

honest1 is pretty right on in his post. There is a lot of difference between amps of any type.

The Pass aleph amps are truely sweet SS amps. I compared the Aleph 3 side by side to an audio research VT100 tube amp with a wadia 860 running direct into either and a pair of Dunlavy athenas. The sound was very nice from both and i could have lived with either. The ARC had more openness in the top end though. That said the ARC amps tend to be pretty solid state sounding tube amps with a solid low end. I ended up with VTL which still keeps the bottom solid but warms the mids a little more. Then you have some of the CJ amps which are the stereotypical tuby sounding amps with soft bass and very warm mids.

Ajahu, i listen to mostly blues and jazz with a dose of electronic thrown in for good measure and wouldn't trade my tubes for the world. You just need enough power to feed your speakers and enough current to control the bottom and life is good. The sound of modern rock...any rock for that matter...seems to be so dependent on production quality that it's a crap shoot wheather it will sound good in any high res system imo.

ok, i was just kidding about miserable state, etc. .

however, i believe that there is a sonic signature associated with solid state components and i have never heard a solid state component having a roll off in the treble region.

Go to a rocks, pop or jazz concerts and open your ears , your mind then go home and crank up your tube gears and tell me if there is no color in your systems. Come on guys, the perfect sounding system is built not around your speakers or your amps...It is in your bias mind. I love SS and tubes both for their own quality and their own limitation. Some audiophile is willingly to compromise and some is not. Want a naked truth, go to a live concert.

Phd: Yes, I did indeed get off topic here. Sorry about that.

Bostonjim46: Congrats on the JL1's. I run with the JL-3's and discovered a greater degree of fullness and textures in the mids when I changed out the stock small-signal tubes. The Mullard 6922 and 12ax7 made a huge improvement not only in the portrayal of space but also dynamics. The latter is a Mullard strength. The Telefunken 12au7 over the stock 12au7 was a very slight improvement in the clarity of the mids. I have since discovered the Telefunken 6DJ8 which is absolutely magical every place I have tried it. But I have not yet had the chance to try this with the JL-3's. So try to locate some of these and discover even more with the CAT amps.

Andrewdoan: I have been to many rock and jazz concerts and so often the bass is boomy, the amplification used by the facility is terrible, and its downright impossible to hear clearly what the singer is singing and/or saying. If I want great sound quality, I am pretty much limited to the smaller venues or the great orchestra halls. The places we hear our favorite bands is not even remotely close sonically to where the studio recording was made that we listen to in our homes.

I go to a concert simply for the opportunity to see my favorite musicians. It's an issue of having fun; the ultimate sound quality is not a factor here.

As for the issue of one's tube gear causing major colorations, the recording engineers had far more to do with altering the sound than any tube-based home system playing that altered recording.