For anyone who moved from tubes to solid state — a question

"They don’t do it well, so why do it?."

Somebody is referring to generalities...  

I’ve owned and heard a lot of SS over the years, some of them really well regarded amps in great systems. Once I re-tubed my stock Dynaco ST-70, my listening experience changed for the better. It was more than just better clarity...somehow the music was more intimate, and I felt like it brought me closer to the performance in the recording studio. 20 years later, adding the VTA mods to the Dyna and upgrading the tubes took the amp to the next level...clearer yet, closer, more info, and even the bass had plenty of whack now. It’s that listening experience that good tube amps do so well, and is what seems to be missing with the many SS amps I’ve heard....tonal balance and clarity were fine, but were more lifeless. With my SS amps, it seemed like I always needed to turn the volume up to get that audio buzz, and my listening sessions were shorter because my ears hurt. With my current tube setup, I’m happy every single time I turn on the system regardless of where the volume is set, and I’m happier listening to a wider range of music than I used to be.....no idea whether that’s due to age or satisfaction with the system, but it took me a long time to enjoy my system this much, and there’s a lot to be said about that.

I can’t imagine giving up tubes at this point, but I do understand that tubes amps in general tend to have a lower damping factor so they can struggle controlling heavy woofers. Depending on the tube amp, some have great bass, so it’s not universal that tube amps have weak bass.....it varies with every situation. I’m getting bass extension to about 30hz with a light kevlar woofer in a t-line....tone and dynamics are excellent, but my listening room is now quite large, so there’s not a ton of low output relative to the cubic volume of the room. An SS amp would likely be better in that range. To help that I’ve added a powered subwoofer with the crossover and gain set quite low, so I barely notice it’s playing most of the time, but it helps augment that lowest octave.

I like to keep an open mind, and maybe some of the new SS technology will mind change my mind someday, but as mapman mentioned, the glow of those tubes is just too cool. :-)

Thanks for the further comments. I have bookshelves and a good sub, but the crossover idea is really appealing. More to learn...

Small wattage SET amps (2a3, 45, 46, 211) turned me me into an audiophile, but SS pass labs xa30.8 with EAR 868 tube preamp got me off of the SET train and into beautiful hybrid heaven.

Actually, the traditional tube sound and solid state sound have converged