Why did you lean one way or the other


Without judgement towards me, or from me, what did you find more enjoyable, going from tubes to solid state, and/or from solid state to tubes? My posts here have stated my reasons for going in a particular direction. What say you? Please, if you want to participate in this discussion, let's all be civil, mature, and realize, we all have a musical "taste" we are after, and because of this, there is no right or wrong, except for yourself. 

mrdecibel

Why did you lean one way or the other?

 

l never have as never delved into anything else.

l asked a friend of mine, an old farmer why he always leaned to his right, was it an old farming injury, a hip or knee wearing out?

He replied, “No, l have one leg longer than the other”

 

A similar experience happened in the shop l managed when said farmer came in one day, noticed another guy leaning to the right beside him as he walked up to the check out. The farmer said, “Have you got the same problem l have?”  The other guy looking surprised said, “Oh!”…. “Have you got a wooden leg too?”

I've tried tubes but eventually went back to SS. Easier, low maintenance and they don't take forever to warm-up. My class A sounds just as good to my ears. 

Warm up and maintanence is component dependent. My current tube system requires no warm up and only requires a tube change every 3,000 hours. So it is somewhat a question of your definition of how much is too much. 

The only reason I mention this is because I was put off by this reputation... but did not understand in absolute terms what this meant.  

I started with SS integrated revceivers, then went to SS A/B separates, always upgrading for more power and headroom.  Finally, went to tube monoblocks with tube preamp and that gave me the sweet sound and full bass I love.  I have learned to build my system from the ear back...  So, first is speakers, then amps, then preamp, then source.  Cables in the same order.  This will insure that you start with a sound you like, and it should only gets better as you progress towards the source material.  The closer in order the component is to your ear, the more you should not compromise on it...  So, speakers should always be the number one investment, then, amps to match the speaker, and so forth. 

@hjdca on going backwards….

l have never heard of anyone ever doing this.

In the 60s it was considered that the speakers defined the hi-fi stereo system, and took the lions share of the budget. This idea was questioned in the 70s when better turntables altered that perception. The argument then changed to source priority first. Speakers no matter what price paid can replicate what has not been extracted (and is missing) from the source.

Perhaps you should start a discussion yourself and see if you are not alone with your “ear back” theory.