My friend finally dragged me to a high end audio boutique in Orange County, we kicked back and listened to a $10,000+ AR tube amp and preamp hooked up to a pair of really expensive Thiel speakers, enjoyed a mug of their high quality coffee and some terrific jazz. All I can say is that we both figured that an Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT 5 watt per channel SET (KT88 driven), a modified Ah! Njoe Tjoeb tube output CD Player, a pair of M22 like Michaura M55s modified with Jensen paper/oil caps and Caddock resistors, a Vance Dickason Titanic sub sounded at least as good.
BTW, my ASL tubie cost about $700. I swapped stuff which cost me a bit under $400 but for which they credited me for more than $700 for the ASL. I gave them a giant Yamaha 5 channel amp (so big I would've needed a new house which I picked up from a local penny saver ad for about $250) and a Parasound preamp which I picked up on uBid for a bit over $100. They gave me the ASL and some jazz CDs. We all walked away happy.
ASL also has the WAV8 monoblocks for about $100 each. They've received rave reviews, but require a preamp. A pair of these puts out much more wattage than my MG SI 15DT, but watts aren't everything. The MG is smoooooooth, liquid mids, sparkling crystaline highs, punchy rich bass.
