I own Carry Audio 300B Triode Mono block amps and a SP8 tube preamp. These are the same amps Jon Atkinson called equalizers and I would not trade them for any other amp in the world. Inefficient and pwer limited, when mated with the correct speakers ( such as my Celestion SL-700 or the Triad Gold Monitors ) they cause the hair on the back of your head to stand up and you stop and listen to music.

Tubes, like turntables, have become better as they have become less popular. Russian and Checkoslovian tubes have become brought better tubes to market, the original Western Electric machines have come out of moth balls and are making tubes ( especially 300B ) tubes and transformers technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Even horn speakers have had a come back and with 104db sensitivity even power limited tube amps can make concert audio levels possible. Tubes are different than transisitor amps as Fred has suggested in that a bad tube can cause the amp to blow up, it takes time for the system to warm up and sound its best, and tubes run HOT, even for class A or class A/B amps, which means that you may need to to wipe your brow as you enjoy some of the most seductive sounds you have ever heard. They need air and if you have small children you will need a protective gage to prevent the children from receiving 3rd degree burns ( should they touch a tube).

However, if you do not intend to listen critically, I would suggest going with a distributed audio system and a transistor amp. But if you wish to glimpse a moment of musical magic and see into the music as if you were at a concert tube amps will reproduce moments of audio realism like no other piece of electronics I know.

Alan