Getting started w/ tube equipment

Need more info on your system, tastes and budget before an informed answer can be given.

What speakers do you have?
What amp/preamp do you currently have?
What size room?
How loud do you listen to your music?
What kind of music do you listen to?
How important is bass to you?
What musical traits are you looking for?
Is this a dedicated 2 channel system or will you also use this for home theater?
What source do you use?
What is your budget?

I will say that the tube maintenance issue is generally overblown and should not deter the majority of interested people from checking out tube gear.

Tube gear does span the spectrum from tonally colored to incredibly transparent and everything in between.

Get back to us with some of the above and I think the tube equipment afficianados on the board should be able to provide some good recommendations.

I would absolutely encourage you to explore chinese brands. Make sure you buy from an established and reliable us dealer(assuming your in us). Also dont rule out used equipment there are many great bargains right here on the gon.
Start with the power requirement of your speakers this will help you determine the best topology to persue for your power amp. read read read. A good resource is upscale audio for new equipment,they can give you good guidance for getting started and can accommodate a variety of budgets as well as reasonable prices on tubes for equipment you have bought from them.

frankly I would start with tube friendly (high impedance easy to drive) speakers

then look for the proper amp

So, what is it about the date 12/27 that gets you going about tubes?

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1261926156

A U.S. built integrated - Rogue Audio Cronus - base model using EL34s 55wpc, or Magnum model ($400 more) 90wpc - using KT 90s - easy to bias, musical, well built, excellent customer service. Also, with socket savers you can use KT 88s or KT120s
Set for 8 ohm speakers but you can switch a wire to convert to 4ohm.