TWB: Asking the question I did of you and then of “bstspkr1” was to file your answers away in my hip pocket for potential future reference. Solid State is appealing for the maintenance issues you expressed. There might come a day when I need to move to SS.
Additionally, I’m sure there are others that will benefit from your insight and from when “bstspkr1’s” addresses my questions about comparisons of the Pass and Atma-sphere amps he owns and may have auditioned. That sort of personal insight goes a long way to downselecting which amps one should audition. Anything better than throwing darts at a board littered with amplifiers, is beneficial. It is one of the important reasons why I participate on forums like this. For example cabling is littered with many brands and numerous models within those brands (some with pricing as high as the amplifiers being discussed). The question of where to begin the auditioning process becomes an important one; especially for our beloved electrostatic speakers. Which generally have different cable requirements than cones and domes. That is, a cable that works well with normal drivers may not perform equally well on stats. But I digressed from the topic at hand….