Well, I stand by my comment about tube reliability and getting the
most performance for the dollar while still achieving some of the
sound characteristics of a tube amp. As someone else commented you can
get good accurate sound from a few modern tube amps these days, but
you need to accept their maintenance issues. I did not like the Cav-50
and found it to sound "dull". Some people love that syrupy, smooth
stuff but it wears off on me quickly. It also takes that amp forever
(an hour) to reach it's optimum temp and stabilize for best sound
quality. C-J amps also can be hard on tubes as they run rather hot,
your milage may vary. I had one (a power amp with EL34's years ago and
it needed new tubes twice a year!). That was unacceptable for me and I
found the bass to be "soft" or fuzzy" although it was very well
extended. I then bi-amped and fixed that problem, but got tired of
having all my rack space gone and wasting so much time and money on
tube replacement and extra amplifiers. One good amp is plenty, just
choose a nice one that you like the sound of. One trouble is that you
are not able to hear those sounds easily at your home. You simply must
either trust advise from others (which may be honest and well intened
while still running counter to your tastes) or pack-up and visit a
metro area with a couple of good dealers to listen. I would recommend
a Bryston 3B-SST power amplifier and a Rogue Audio 66 preamplifier for
a well balanced, dynamic sound that has some tube depth, without the
loss of control or tube failure/expense issues if you do like the idea
of mixing ss and vt. Iuse the 3B-SST myself and it represents the
third Bryston amplifier in my rack, so I keep coming back to their
various models. I have also used the Rogue Audio 66 in my system, but
replaced it with the very much more expensive Bryston BP25DA / BP1.5
combination. I still like tube amps and am sure that I will use one
again for some time. The only way to gain true experiences is to have
them, so I do swap components after a while regardless of their appeal
and economy.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250

"Spongebob" wrote in message
news:czKuc.24793$js4.14119@attbi_s51...
This is a very good suggestion. However, I am utilizing the
suggestions of
a fellow named Andre Jean Quintal in making my choice. Did you ever
read
any of his many postings on rec.high-end and other audio forums? He
really
impressed me through the years.

Someone asked him once what amplifiers would work well with the
Spendor SP
1/2s, which I have. Mr. Quintal's suggestions we the
Conrad-Johnson
CAV-50, NAIM, or Electrocompaniet. Of those, I chose the c-j, and
hence my
question about tube reliability.

If my former system, I used a tube pre-amp and a SS amplifier with
good
success, but the Spendor SP1/2s I have now are considerably brighter
than
the Spendor SP-1s I used with that system. I welcome your comments!
--Leslie

"Uptown Audio" wrote in message
news:g%puc.27378$n_6.27262@attbi_s53...
If it helps, you can always buy a tube preamp and a solid state
power
amp and get some tube sound without the maintenance worries and
heat
generation of a tube power amp. That also affords a better match
to
most loudspeakers. You also gain better control over the woofers,
which is a low point for most tube amps. The combinations are
endless.
-Bill
www.uptownaudio.com
Roanoke VA
(540) 343-1250