Leaning towards tubes, but need help long

Consonance Hybrid A-120....
Larry

Cayin A 88-T integrated, a TERRIFIC bargain. Grab one before the price goes up. I own this stellar amp, and it is a keeper, after owning a lot of pricier equipment.

I know, it's made in China...but this is a SMART amp and it sounds delicious with gourmet tubes, meaning getting rid of the stock tubes (although they are nice)and going a bit better. Partner this with a decent power cord - a MUST - and you are in business.

This thing has point-to-point wiring, a soft-start circuitry to extend tube life, a nice, small but chunky metal remote with switchable standard ultralinear 40 watts or triode 22 watts mode (not quite SET but close...) AND what I feel is truly exceptionnal build quality and parts selection for the price, leaving in my opinion at least, all the Antique Sound Lab (ASL) and similar amps in the dust in this departement.

Sound-wise, I really think you have to spend a LOT more money to equal it, and even more to surpass it. Very beautifull to look at, and very beautifull-sounding, I think it is a screaming bargain, and my guess is that one of these days, the price of these will skyrocket upwards when more of these will be in the market, and there is a bit more history out there, now that there seems to be (finally) a reliable distributor in the US. By the way, I did compare it to the Prima Luna, sorry, close but no cigar. As I said, my Cayin A 88-T is a keeper, something I have not been able to say in a very long time. Good luck!

since you list orchestral as one of the genres you like, make sure you get an amp with some power, not a single-ended triode. other things you should be aware of are the sonic signatures of the different gear, ranging from quite neutral to quite warm/euphonic/"tube-y". if possible, you should audition a few different brands to see which sound you like.
if you don't have phono, that will make your search cheaper and easier.
I would second the mac recommendation - if you buy it used, you will lose little if anything on resale as these really hold their value - but there are a lot of decently powered integrateds out there: AR made one, CJ made at least one, Cary has a few, lots of new Chinese ones.
the type of tube will have a big impact on the sound, so buying something that can use different tubes will give you more flexibility down the road.
NOS (new old stock) tubes will pop up as an option down the road too. certain popular tubes (KT-88, 6sn7), as currently produced, are not as good as the older (40's - 70's) ones were, so there's an obvious - if expensive - way to improve the sound once you own the amp.
based on what you're saying, tubes are the right choice. you can't beat them for openness and air.
p.s.you asked about finickiness. preamps are pretty much no-maintenance: if you get scratchiness or 'tube rush', you just figure out where it's affected (L or R, CD or tuner, etc., then switch out suspect tubes until you locate the problem - no biasing required. with power tubes, you can expect - especially with current production tubes - to have the occasional loud noise, glowing tube (prior to tube failure), etc. you simply need to keep an extra set of tubes so you can keep listening. with NOS tubes, reliability is less of a factor.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the input. A couple of dumb questions for musicslug. What is single-ended triode, and is 50W per channel (the Manley) enough? I don't usually play music at especially high volumes. In terms of swapping out tubes, what's expensive -- hundreds or thousands? If it's the latter, I'm not sure that's a road I'd want to take. Thanks again!

Blue Circle NSCS.
Do some research. This is a great unit.
And of course this is biased. I own one. And unless I hit the lottery have no intention of replacing it.
After fourteen years and many units I'm finally happy.