This is true. Some solid state amps are very good sounding. Most use
moderate amounts of NFB and simple circuits, relatively speaking. Twenty
years ago there were few if any first rate solid atate amps commercally
available, possibly excepting Threshold.

I love the sound of tubes, but a properly
designed transistor amp will run right along with the tubes today. I
heard this in the form of a Levinson setup- it was some symphony stuff I
never heard before, and I walked in on this setup with no expectations.
The first thing I noticed was that the orchestra was miked from above. I
heard the actual sound of being above the orchestra, hanging above it-
the effect was just mesmerizing. It was then that I realized that tubes
and transistors have to occupy the same landscape- that of extreme
accuracy. The solid-state amp I heard was so transparent, so melodical,
so true-to-life, I was just blown away.
**Hopefully he's better at amp design than sex. (Levinson authored a
sex manual with his then-wife, Kim Cattrall: they broke up soon
thereafter.)
But tubes are awesome, never diss the vacuum. Transistors can hold their
own these days, if you are willing to pay for it. However I will always
fall back on my old Dyna ST70. There's something about it- can't put my
finger on it but it is just nice. I don't have the means to acquire some
Klipsch corner horns or some radical plastic/fiberglass horn thing, but
I will still make time for the Dyna.
**The stock Dyna is a truly godawful amp. Modded ones can sound
halfway decent, but the limiting factor is the relatively poor OPTs. It
is impossible to build a really good tube amp around Dyna iron. The
better UTC, Acro or Peerless iron, or properly cloned Marantz or Freed
designs, can be the heart of world class tube amps. I have heard good
things about some Tamura and Lars Lundahl designs but no personal
experience.
**Klipschhorns and the junior versions (La Scalas and Belle
Klipsches) can be had reasonable if you look. The price has started
going up because people use the Klipsch lowers with other midrange and
tweeters to produce listenable speakers. You could build your own if you
were a good carpenter, I mean it has to be easier than a Riva boat or a
Falco!
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Threshold? I never even heard of Threshold 20 years ago. Of course,
folks like McIntosh made absolute crap 20 years ago, correct?

Klipschhorns, and the like I never cared for personally. I never heard a
one with what I felt was accurate, clean reproduction. They all sounded
colored to me. Sure, I've heard of people doing all sorts of mods to
them, but really, what's the point? Wouldn't it be better, and easier
to just buy a speaker that does things right in the first place? Mark