[Radio Wrangler]

For sure, thermionic and solid state devices have differences. There is no actual benefit in arguing one against the other. It is just a matter of designing different circuits around them. Use as many devices as it takes to do the job. Design for as good a performance as you feel you need. It's a hobby. It's a free country.

As far as designing audio amps is concerned, if you subscribe to a simple philosophy like 'Closest approach to the original sound' r envisage pieces of wire with gain, you can do as good a job as anyone is likely to need using any device you feel like. Bipolars, triodes, JFETs, Tetrodes, MOSFETs Pentodes, IGBTs. At a pinch you could do magamps or even get amplification from CRTs.

It ceases to be an issue of choice of devices and becomes one of how well appropriate circuitry has been designed.

We can choose to design an audio amplifier in all sorts of ways just for the hell of it and bring it to a satisfactory result.

A friend was developing amps using as few devices as possible that still worked well. So for a laugh I designed one that used as many as possible.... subject to each device doing something I could say was helpful. Great fun. Some of the former wound up being made at Linn, the latter at HP. A good time was had by all!

Remember, it's supposed to be fun. If it stops being fun, stop doing it.

David