Tubes

gguy767- Everyone says that I’ll get addicted and want better this and that but I think I’m a tad more of a music lover than an audiophile

. Good. So you want to know the very best bang for the buck, after moving things around to get the best speaker placement possible, is a tube of Total Contact.This stuff will transform your system in a way you can hardly even imagine. All the other stuff you’re talking about will make a difference. For sure. But you could spend thousands and not get to where one $300 tube of TC will get you. No set of tubes ever made at any price will get you anywhere even close. Probably no speaker or amp for that matter.

Search around for mahgister and his thread on his system. Its a very budget level system and he’s outside the US so no Total Contact but the point is the same: its way better and more cost effective to tweak what you have than to buy more expensive components.
Other top contenders, all of which are much more cost effective than tubes or components: BDR Cones, Synergistic Research Orange Fuse, ECT, HFT and PHT.

I didn’t see anything in your comments about speaker cables, interconnects, or power cords. If you are still using the cheap freebie patch cords and rubber power cords they ship with components then those should be the first to go. After that, don’t even think about tubes or components until you’ve done the list above. Start with TC, you will see what I mean.

Tubes of course make a difference just like everything else. My experience (30 years) has taught me to replace tubes when they need replacing. Because for what they cost you can just about always get a lot more improvement from just about anything else. Especially considering with tubes you can’t even be sure of ANY improvement! No matter how much you spend. My favorite of all I have tried for example is JJ, one of the cheapest around. The most expensive ones I’ve tried 2 out of 5 failed in 4 months and weren’t even average before that. I know there are guys who will tell you tube rolling is the greatest thing since sliced bread. In 4 amps over 30 years and more sets than I know not one in all of them made me feel it was worth it. The mere fact that its tubes (and not SS) is half the battle. What’s left divides mostly between circuit topology, transformers, and parts quality (caps, diodes, resistors, wire, switches, etc). Hardly any of the "tube" sound you're hearing is the tubes themselves. Its mostly these other things. Its just that tubes are obvious, and audiophiles are anything but subtle.

Don’t expect a lot of agreement on that. But pay attention to those with differing views, to what exactly those views are based on. SOP.

The amp you’re thinking of buying tubes for- does it have a Synergistic Orange fuse? ECT? Quality power cord? Treated with Total Contact? Is it sitting on Cones or the factory feet? All those to me are far higher priorities than tubes.