I didn't mean to start a debate about SS vs tubes. I had a question for SH because I know he uses this equipment.

I didn't build the tube preamp because I'm looking for something in music that the 950/770 doesn't give me. I started awhile back trying to learn about electronics since I had a limited understanding of electronic circuits and how they work. An example would be that I knew what a diode does and how to use it in certain applications but I didn't know how it actually worked. I had no concept of how an RC circuit or inductor was used. Since I have no one to teach me I decided to read a bunch of books (which will give you a killer headache) and try and get a better understanding of what was happening. I started with some of my grandfathers books (he was an EE) and they helped but I learn best by actually seeing, feeling and testing. Tinkering with some tube circuits seemed to be the most logical path because I'm good at building things and you are able to modify hard wired circuits. It sort of became a hobby while trying to learn something.

I have built a tube preamp that I think sounds pretty good and I use it as a test mule for learning different components and circuits. Currently I have the preamp setup beside the 950 with both feeding the 770 through an A/B switch and both being fed from the DVD player. With this setup I can A/B music on the fly to compare the tubes to 950. This way I can change some capacitors or tubes and always compare then to how the 950 sounds to see if I have made an improvement or ruined everything.

Next on my tube audio list will be either an active tube crossover or a pair of amps (maybe 2A3's or 300B's). After that I'm onto building speakers with the effiency needed for these types of amps.

I got interested in this because of the knowledgeable responses given to technical questions by a few of the outlaws especially SH. Wanting to better understand those responses led me on this trek.

As proof that this is primarily for learning at this point is the tube rectified battery charger that I will build soon. I won't charge the motorcycle battery better than a normal charger but will look a lot cooler and I will have built it.