I think SETs produce more involving sound becuase of the 3 reasons I mentioned in my post above. In a sense, they offer equalization that is preferred by many of us. As a fond SET owner & listener, I am obviously on your & John's side. I just don'think that SETs actually provide better fidelity, in fact I think they provide appreciably worse fidelity...they just SOUND better, in other words they manipulate the signal so it sounds good. For example, audible second order distortion actually makes a signal SOUND "fatter" or weightier....which I persoanlly like....makes the illusion more real! But if the goal is fidelity, then I at least have to go with solid state. IF the goal is enjoyment, then it doesn;t really matter. AS i said, i usually lsiten to my SET 45, which probably measures god awful, but who cares?
-akhilesh