a few months back i started my quest for tight, defined bass within my budget. i tried (each a few weeks)
jolida 502b with stock tubes jolida 502b with kt88's jolida hybrid cambridge audio 640A cambridge audio 540A harman 3480 sansui 717 NAD c372
the sources are music hall mmf5 for lp's and rotel 1072 for cd's, also a jolida phono phase. along the way I added better power chords and speaker wire, speakers are bw 602 s3. here is my current ranking
best treble:
1)jolida 502b with stock tubes 2)NAD c372 3)Harman 3380
best midrange:
1) tie between Jolida and Nad
best Bass:
1) sansui 717 2) Jolida with kt88's 3) Jolida Hybrid 4) Nad
overall best sound and non-fatiguing
1) tie between jolida 502b with stock tubes and NAD, with a slight plus to jolida
i will tryb rotel separates next..
analisys plus speaker wire and power chord did make a noticeable difference