uuummmmmmmm....tubessss.....now you're talking.....
If 2 channel is your deal, your really should try tubes. Warm up those cold MN nights. :)
Especially since you have such great tube companies up there in MN, like Atma-sphere and Audio Research Corporation.
There's a first time for everything. If you're shy, it's probably best to start with a tube preamp, as there is less maintenance and tube replacement is less expensive.
A word of warning though, you may find tubes highly addictive, and there is no turning back.
My wife, who is by no means an audiophile, makes very few comments about items coming and going in my system. Most of them aesthetically based, and negative. In the 25 years we've been together, there has been only a couple of times when she has said that something sounds real, and yup, you guessed it, it's always revolved around tube components. Not cables/cords, not cd players/turntables, not preamps/amps, not even speakers. Only tubed components, and sometimes she cannot see the tubes and doesn't even know they are there.
There have only been about 2 or 3 comments in the last 25 years. She says they just sound real, and I agree.
Oddly enough though, she does hate the looks of tube amps with exposed tubes, but she doesn't complain once she hears them.
Cheers,
John
