Thanks everyone for the responses. I am looking into all your suggestions.
As for the life of tubes, I listen to the system roughly 10 hours a day, a bit less on weekends. My listening room doubles as an office, and I work from home almost exclusively. This puts over 2000 hours a year on the tubes. I have not completely ruled out tubes, but I would prefer ss.
One other thing I'd like to add is that I'm getting more interested in finding a unit with balanced outputs.
Right now, the way my listening room is set up, the turntable is behind one of the Maggies. I'd like to be able to locate the turntable in another area of the room. That would involve moving it approximately 15 feet from where it is now.
That also means a cable run of approximately 35 feet (thru the wall, over the ceiling, and down to the equipment rack. I'm thinking that balanced is the way to go if I decide to make that happen.
As for the life of tubes, I listen to the system roughly 10 hours a day, a bit less on weekends. My listening room doubles as an office, and I work from home almost exclusively. This puts over 2000 hours a year on the tubes. I have not completely ruled out tubes, but I would prefer ss.
One other thing I'd like to add is that I'm getting more interested in finding a unit with balanced outputs.
Right now, the way my listening room is set up, the turntable is behind one of the Maggies. I'd like to be able to locate the turntable in another area of the room. That would involve moving it approximately 15 feet from where it is now.
That also means a cable run of approximately 35 feet (thru the wall, over the ceiling, and down to the equipment rack. I'm thinking that balanced is the way to go if I decide to make that happen.