However, there is a third point, and that is that many relatively good
vintage tube receiver/integrated pieces were actually weak-sister
representatives of tube technology when they were new. It was no secret
that
tubed receivers were very problematical because of heat and weight issues.
When you bought a tubed receiver you didn't get a Marantz-like power amp
with a tuner. You didn't even get a Dyna-like power amp with a tuner. You
got a down-sized tubes, lightened output and power transformers, and a
crowded chassis that exacerbated natural heat problems.


Some of the Fisher receivers, Mac receivers, and Sansui receivers are known
to have good quality power sections, with "real" output iron. Conversely,
some separates were not high quality. I generally agree with you though.

Good speakers are the key to
good sound! Personally I think that the amp should be bought to suit
the speakers, and not the other way around.

Since just about all speakers made in the last 30 years were designed to
be
used with SS amplifiers...



Replace SS amplifiers with amplifiers having a low output impedance. What
difference does it make, from the speakers perspective, if the amplifier is
tube or solid state, provided it has a decent damping factor, and adequate
power?