Interesting, you name suggests a liking to valve amplification, and the implication in this post that you have had 'years' of experience with valve amps, but now you run solid state (in the form of an LFD).
In your refreshing of (no doubt heavy) boxes over the years did you ever try the later iterations of Croft (an easy to maintain valve amp)? I only mention this because after trying many SS amps in my system including Naim, the Rega Elex-R, Roksan K2BT pre/power, Arcam and so on - I found that Croft was so much ahead of the game! But I've never (and never will because I am happy with the Croft) listened to an LFD. Just an interesting observation.
Yes it must seem a bit strange. My name was actually from my p.o.v., more a reference to my long association with valve amps by sheer dint of age, rather than anything else. My first mobile disco operated on LEAK TL50s in dual mono, and my first recordplayer had a little valve amp.
I'm not a box swapper and I stuck with Papworth Audio Technology M100 monoblocks for almost 2 decades, only changing the preamp and a few other bits occasionally. Brand loyalty, bloody mindedness and laziness all played a part. I occasionally dropped in other bits and pieces, like a very nice old Rogers Cadet, odd SS things like QUAD and also the hugely underrated Papworth MVH-200 hybrid.
Along the way, I've heard many, many valve amps. ( Including Glenn Croft's products, Art Audio, EAR, Graaf, Cary etc., etc.) Many were frankly dire, a few were inspiring. The very best were usually highly expensive, or potentially costly long term. Popping an odd EL34 at a tenner or less is one thing, switching on to find one of a matched pair or 300Bs has gone south must be heart (and bank) breaking. I'm not ruling out getting a half decent valve integrated at at some point in the future, or even a valve power, and using my LFD as a pre, but...
In the end I decided that as I approach 70, I wanted a simplified but good sounding system. I sold on the massive Papworth monos, an even bigger TEAC CD drive and settled for a nice integrated LFD and an unhurried approach to streaming for digital.
The LFD was not cheap. I budgeted £3k for an amp and the LFD slightly bust that, but it blew several other contenders in the £2-3k range into the weeds
with my speakers and room
I have a lot of things I need to get done and I want to be able to listen to music with minimum 'faff' whilst I'm still capable.
Also, I've heard so much stuff at shows, bake offs, friends homes, dealers etc., etc., that I've accepted what I always knew anyway. There is no 'perfect system'. It is fun playing with kit and buggering about with tweaks, accessories, endless set up changes etc., etc., but in the end it is about the music. I can now sit back and leave the geekiness to a younger generation.
I'll just content myself with sniping from the sidelines..
Mull
