I went and auditioned a Cary SLI-80
http://www.caryaudio.com/products/audio/sli80.shtml
vs a SimAudio Moon i-5 integrated
http://www.simaudio.com/mooni5.htm
with the Dynaudio Contour S1.4
http://www.dynaudio.com/eng/contour/contour14.htm
and Martin Logan Aeon
http://martinlogan.com/aeon_i_speaker.html
All items above where in the $4000 cdn range each.
Having me/and then my dad switching the amps using A-B type setup we both preffered the solid state over the tube. In all time there was more detail in the midrange and highs with solid state. The tubes did well with guitar and horns which gave it a lifelike sound I still enjoyed the numourous amounts of detail the Moon integrated was pushing. As with better midrange quality and pinpointing...the Dynaudio monitor did a better job than the electrostatic Martin Logans. That monitor imaged like crazy...very very detailed and sweet.
