ANOLOG Vs DIGITAL SOUND DIFFERENCE

Be carefull here Stew you may end up spending another $12,000.
Ok, tubes are analog, but so are solid state audio amps. The difference has been debated for over 40 years. Since I'm fighting a cold, I'll repost more info later. john

TELLING US!!!!

Tube amps are loved by guitar players ( I have a tube guitar amp)beacuse of the "fat" sound it adds to the final sound of the guitar.
Many "HI-FI" people call this effect "warm"!
It is caused by a small ammount of 2nd order harmonic distortion that is inherant in vacuume tubes.
It is very hard to get rid of this. I know, I have desinged tube amps.
For a guitar amp which is part of the whole "sound" of the guitar/speker/amp chain. this is a desirable effect.
Many old tube condenser mics are sought after for the same reason. So much so that they are being made again.

Now back to "HI-FI" should the amp add any coloration of it's own??? Most would say NO!!!! But tube amps do add coloration, they can't help it, just the nature of the beast. But many "HI-FI" fans like the sound so they spend big$$$$$$$$$$ for them.
I guess I sould revive my tube amp design, 70w RMS into 8ohms at.9% THD. With new tbues and some tweaking, but as the tubes age the results would change. change tubes and it would not be as good without some tweeking.
Most soild state amp now are .01%THD or less and cost afraction of what a tube amp would cost.
ALL of my HI-FI amps are solid state. John

Being a discriminating listener is what it's about. A neighbor 45 years ago was blind and enjoyed quiet time with a classical music collection on vinyl and a fine set of equipment for the time - old MacIntosh tube amp but emphasis on the speakers (Tannoy theater speakers, vintage 30's technology.) Now he was a class act and one helluva discriminating listener.
From reading your posts, you have nothing to regret in your resources spent intelligently. Living by the Bay Area you have access to more fine listening opportunities than most of us. Problem there is the extreme snootiness associated with high end shops. If you don't go in with ridiculously overpriced attire label attire, they may not lend you the time of day. Heck, there are folk of modest means who have that as their one and only hobby. They may wind up with a rig equal to their annual income.
In smaller cities as Albuquerque I can listen to the best of B&W or NHT speakers or else see if "custom installers" would give me the time of day.
From your posts you have fine equipment and apparently a listening space with some fault, probably not to be definitively overcome. That's probably your limitation. I have a quite OK a/v rig with 42" view in a cabinet. I feel huge screens are nothing but ugly intrusions upon normal furniture. My 2 channel listening is in my "away: room. Now there is the subtle listening pleasure without huge sub woofer boom for the sake of surround sound.
We do enjoy your posts. Enjoy...