Have always stayed with tubes here - preamp and power amp. I've never found the correct rendering of the timbre and harmonic overtones of acoustic instruments any other way. From what I keep hearing in other systems, I don't expect to change from tube gear and vinyl.
Monoblocks and separates have kept us happy for 35+ years, and it would take some severe space constraints in our living quarters to cause us to move to an integrated. (That's where we started in the early '70s and were pleased to be at the time: a late '50s vintage tube integrated by Fisher.)
At this point, we're fortunate that the economy is not affecting our decisions, but we don't change out gear very frequently and don't anticipate replacing anything in the foreseeable future. We've always preferred to fine tune to get the most out of whatever we have before moving infrequently to something else that will make a very material improvement. Just added a Walker Audio Velocitor and High Definition Links to get another step up in performance out of the system and considering some manufacturer's upgrades to a couple of components, but no changes in components.
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Monoblocks and separates have kept us happy for 35+ years, and it would take some severe space constraints in our living quarters to cause us to move to an integrated. (That's where we started in the early '70s and were pleased to be at the time: a late '50s vintage tube integrated by Fisher.)
At this point, we're fortunate that the economy is not affecting our decisions, but we don't change out gear very frequently and don't anticipate replacing anything in the foreseeable future. We've always preferred to fine tune to get the most out of whatever we have before moving infrequently to something else that will make a very material improvement. Just added a Walker Audio Velocitor and High Definition Links to get another step up in performance out of the system and considering some manufacturer's upgrades to a couple of components, but no changes in components.
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