Ken -
The Veracity line of speakers was developed to be extremely accurate and detailed. If you like the sound of tube amps (and I do) the combination can be very good.
These speakers are not SET amp candidates, mind you. For tubes, I quite often use mine with a 40-watt tube amp I happen to have. I love the results. I don't think I would go with any less power and any additional power will simply provide added hearoom.
With SS, I would recommend at least 80 watts or more to provide adequate headroom.
But in either case, the better the amp, the better the sound. I have heard the HT1's with some tube amps that could not compete with a good SS in terms of top-end detail. If there are any shortcomings with a given amp, you will be able to hear them. But with the right tube amp, you would be in heaven.
I have also had very good results using a tubed pre-amp and a SS amp. This provides a nice warm, musical tube sound with the speed of SS.
The best answer I can give you is that the HT1's will faithfully reproduce whatever signal they are fed. If it is provided by a great amp, the results will be great. If not, the sound will mearly be very good (I have demo'd HT1's with a $129 Sony SS amp with no complaints from the audiophiles present - they didn't know what was driving them).
Whether it be tubes or SS is a matter of personal taste.
- Jim
