can a tube-o-phile be happy with ss?

Wavetrader, I currently use an old AR LS-15/EAR 834P/Hagerman Piccolo. Budget constraints (the SEP-IRA is long gone.) Adequate, but...

Hi Lloydc,

I crossed back over into SS land a few months ago, though not entirely. I was all tube (DAC, Pre, Amp) and now have gone with SS Class A amp (s/hand Gryphon Antileon). My speakers are also Sonus Faber, so i get an organic quality to my sound from a variety of components. The Class A SS qualities in direct comparison to my outgoing CJ MV60 amp were surprising.

1. On a technical basis, i found the voice magic (organic, dimensional female vocals) was equaled, marginally bettered by the SS amp
2. Air surrounding voices and strings were also equaled.
3. The difference was in power and visceral slam. Now, i find myself listening to orchestral so much more, as a result of the improved soundstage depth and dynamic capability
4. At the same time, even though i know the "air" of both amps is the same, because the smaller tube amp did not have dynamics, the air came to the fore more, and with the SS amp, it recedes back as the dynamic capabilities come forth when you start to think about the quality of sound you are hearing...ie, you do not revel in the air as much even though in a direct a/b comparison, it is clearly there...because there are other qualities to listen to now such as the dynamics, soundstage width/size, etc.
5. I also find the SS to reveal more upstream changes, and as a result, i am now tube rolling my DAC. there is added detail that the is coming thru the amp, which means i now am upgrading from a Jan Phillips 6922 (which is highly microphonic, but surprisingly musical for $20/tube cost) to a Mullard ECC88.

and i just ordered a Mullard E88CC and Amperex 7308 to try out. (as an aside, i will say the Mullard ECC88 provides much greater solidity to the sound and detail, but to my ears and in my (slightly tempermental) Zanden DAC, the upper strings and upper piano registers are still somehow more musical using the original JAN Phillips 6922...shocking frankly.)

In sum, i finally found (after 12 months of intensive search) a SS Class A amp that matched my wonderful CJ amp (which i enjoyed for 9 years!) and gave me more...and further challenged the rest of my components to keep up.

And thus, the search goes on...;) As it does for so many of us. Hope that one person's experience helps.

Lloyd

Yes you can and I did.
I've had only tubes in my system up until about 4 years ago. The cost to retube an amp and the cost to purchase a new tube amp over 100 watts made me look at SS. There are a few amps out there like Moon and Pass that come close to tube sound, look around. I am staying with a tube Preamp though, I feel there is a large differance in the sound compared to SS and the cost to retube is minimal. So keep your tube preamp.

Sigh. One more time. A tube pre with a ss power amp is the combo that J. Gordon Holt recommemded years ago. Of course, each must be worth listening to. I've had a tube pre with ss power amp for over a decade and will not go either all tube or all ss. Right now a 12au7 based pre with a Hypex based "Class D" power amp. Sweet.

I have owned some very good sounding ss amps and sadly some others that seem to intially impress but wear you down in the long run. I think you can be satisfied with a good ss amp coupled to a well matched tube preamp, giving you the best of both worlds.