Ok, so I am not really up on tube amplifiers. What is the main benefit of tube amps, ( besides looking very cool indeed). Additionally, why do I always hear that 35 WPC from a tube amp is like 120 WPC from a conventional amp ( or some such statement ).
Smoother transients, warmer sound...? Would someone explain this to me? Please?

Simply to put it, they sound different from solid-state amp. Some people prefer it and some don’t. Do a search on tube amp in “Outlaw to Outlaw” or “Your System Saloon” and you’ll find some info you are looking for. soundhound has written this repeatedly and I think he is getting tired of doing it over again, which I can understand…

they are VERY warm ,smooth ,musical.it's been awhile. now instead of being a dime a dozen,they are pretty much exclusive and expensive.although i understand they are not for the BASS heavy,correct me if i'm wrong,but more for upper freq. detail,where a solid state amp should deal with the bass.

That's generally true, although the VERY warm part is a bit too much of a generalization. There are in fact many affordable tube amps from companies like Azusa, Jolida and some others.

Generally, tube amps have a lower damping factor than solid state amps which, with conventional speaker systems that use passive crossovers (verses active crossovers and bi-amplification), can cause the low bass to be a bit less controlled than it would otherwise be. This ceases to be an issue with direct-to-amp connections that use active crossovers.

Tube amps use MUCH richer biasing on the output stages which means they run in pure class "A" a good deal of the time verses solid state amps which are in this class for only the lowest output levels. This richer biasing eliminates crossover distortion that is particularly objectionable with very sensitive speakers like my horns.

I grew up listening to a Sherwood 25W monaural amp with an eico tuner through an Electrovoice speaker...when the '70s came, I thought this little thing could't be that loud, smooth and warm...WOW was I wrong...all that through a 15" woofer and tweeter was more than enough then...wish I had paid more attention to tubes...I still have his stuff (minus the speaker) and it still works...he bought it in 1956.
Bill

well put SH,except:

Tube amps use MUCH richer biasing on the output stages which means they run in pure class "A" a good deal of the time verses solid state amps which are in this class for only the lowest output levels.

i don't totally understand class a,ab,d(more efficient for bass,i understand)..now what class e?seems like i can google all day long,but till you explain it in simple terms,it's VERY hard to grasp all this info!!

The various classes of amplifier operation have nothing to do with the bass, but rather the efficiency of the output stage. Class "A" is the least efficient but is the most immune to crossover distortion and consequently sounds the best, especially with efficient (and revealing) speakers. Pure class "A" means that each tube or transistor is operating over the entire cycle of the audio wave. Class "A/B" which is what most solid state amps use and what many tube amps use, operates with both "halves" of the output stage together at low levels and splits them at higher levels. The difference in tube amps is degree - they allow the two halves of the output stage to operate together over a wider output wattage range before they split and one half covers the upper "half" of the cycle and the other half covers the other "half" of the cycle.

This is probably a very confusing explanation, but it is the best I can do right now....

work on it dude,i expect a very in depth explanation of power amp types from you!

thanks SH!let me absorb some,i'll ask more soon!

Try yahoo or google search on this subject and you’ll find many sites on how amplifiers work.