Your desires may be a bit unrealistic. You will have to compromise in some area to take full benefit of tubes. The problem area is your goal to drive Magneplanars for $1500. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I want to save you disappointment. Integrated amps in your price range(Jolida, Golden Tube, C - J, and Jadis) do not have the guts. I haven't heard the new Rogue yet, but I can tell you that the EL34 based Jolida(202/302), C - J(MV-55/CAV50), and Jadis(Orchestra) simply are not suited for driving difficult loads. Period. A dealer in my area insists on showing the C - J CAV50 amp with B & W N805's. The amp is flat out STRAINED. Both products are wonderful, just not suited to each other. You could look into a 6550/KT88 based amp(Jolida 502/801), or maybe this new Rogue(I don't know what tubes it uses - their other products are 6550/KT88 based), but you lose a good bit of that EL34(classic tube sound) magic. You may try to buy an EL34 based $1500(or less) amp, make sure it has some decent tubes from Europe, upgrade the power cord, and get some high sensitivity/high impedence dynamic loudspeakers. You may find nirvana. Good luck!
Entry into tubes
I would like to hear from experiences out there on good starting integrated tubed amps if making the transition from solid state. I live in semi rural coastal Georgia and am unable to audition anything, (living at the beach is hell.) I made my solid state decision based on 1) reviews and 2) availability/popularity (thinking easier to get repair and parts) and still believe that logic is sound for my situation. My present system is: Creek 4330, Bel Canto DAC 1 with Pioneer DVD as transport, PE Leon Prima mini monitors, and a PSB sub. I use XLO reference type 1 interconnect and XLO toslink with the DAC 1. I have both XLO Ultra type 6 speaker cable and the Mapleshade clearview golden helix speaker cables, (I prefer the Mapleshade.) I also use the Blue Circle BC84 line conditioner and all Blue Circle power cords. My long distance dealer assures me that I should wait on the upcoming Blue Circle hybrid integrated amp that should cost about $2500-$3000 sometime in 2001. That is a budget buster for me. Can we keep it under $1500, please? And, can we drive Maggies with it? Also, I played string bass in the school orchestra 25 years ago, so bass is a must. Great shopping with you, and thanks ahead for your thoughts and time typing. Charlie Daniell