To all tube lovers.......

Hovland amps, like the Radia, are decent sounding to me and several of my friends who are more partial to tube gear. The company is no longer around, so there might be service issues, but, that would also mean that their used stuff will be cheap.

Lapierre: LOL! Good to chat again friend. Yes, Mcintosh is on my list. So is Pass, and dare I say, Nuforce?!? What I forgot to mention on my thread is that the amp I currently have is kind of a pain to bias. Also, it's the whole maintenance thing of tubes: biasing, changing tubes, tube failure, the danger of one exploding (as one did in the past). Tubes are just more of a pain in the ass ( I can't believe I just said that). However, like it or not, it is what it is: a component that requires more maintenance than others.

I want to keep my options open to ANY speaker that I may get in the future. I might look into another pair of Martens. I sold my old Miles II's in a moment of sheer stupidity, but what's done is done. There are a few more speakers that I won't get into now.

Thanks to all that responded so early into this thread. All of your thoughts and comments are with me through this never ending merry-go-round.

Rowland or Krell. Both have gobs of power, high current and can drive anything. The newer Rowland ICepower amps sound a bit like tubes....tough to go wrong with them, since you get such tremendous power in a very, very small package. Can place them anywhere, they're reliable, well built and Rowland's customer service is second to none.

Devilboy, I have owned two amps that sound very close to tubes:
Electrocompaniet AW180 and McIntosh Mc402.

I do not agre that Rowland, Nuforce, Krell or Symphonic Line sound like tubes. Those are good amps but they play clearly in the solid state league, Krell being the most forward-sounding.
Rowland and Nuforce class D amps lack upper treble "air" due to the mandatory Class D low-pass output filter, however that's not tube sound in my book.
Good luck with your search.

McIntosh or ARC 100.2