Second audio system in your house?

@mesch you said: "One thing about spending $1000 on a second system is that you might find out how good one can sound with such an expenditure."

I could not agree with you more. A "reasonably priced" second system that sounds great can moderate your compulsive tweaking on a more expensive primary system.  (Yeah, right.) (...Well, at least it will whisper to you that you are chasing shadows when you A/B the same media on it.)

I have a beautiful-sounding main system in a generous living room space. It is a holographic mind travel machine (think: "musical Tardis"; Avalon, Ayon). I listen to that when ever I can... lately, I have been discovering Charles Mingus in detail in that room, while reading or with eyes shut.

My home office is where I play with gear, I have too much in here right now but it is fun!

The family room is where we have our 5.1 Parasound Halo and Emotiva HT experience (sometimes ruined by watching would-be Presidential debates ;-) 

Here is what I really want to do: Have a space big enough and with enough power to have several different systems for shoot-offs. That would be the bomb. What's that? You say I should start an audio store? That's the idea, except this is not going to be a money-making experience...

@strateahed That second system sounds like it's "tasty"!

@strateahed I should have asked what tubes you rolled in the amp?

I have two tube amps: Rogue w/KT120s and Ayon w/KT88s. The 120’s are Tung Sol, the 88’s are either Ayon high-end (China) or Genalex Gold Lions (Russia). I got the Gold Lions (3 matched quad sets via bay’s NewQuestInc (California-based).

I am relatively new to the tube game (Rogue entered my home slightly over a year ago), yet have fallen head-over-heels. My inclination was to buy tubes from a US source, just to limit unknowns and travel "shake" distance. As a noob, this seemed like a path that hewed to both caution and "adventure".

I wanted the Canada Fuller KT88’s but they would have come from Hanshire Electronics, cost 2x the Gold Lions and I just wasn’t ready to "roll" with that double-dose of delicate glass object d’art adventure ...just yet.

I wrote all this to solicit advice on tube sourcing and brand/model...

chio.

@wetfeet48 

I love tube gear now, but I also like the reliability of my car stereo which will never need to be biased or have it's tubes replaced. 

I think tube gear makes the most sense for me in a critical listening system, not in a system you keep on for hours in the background.