Entry Level Tube Integrated Amps

"Entry level"?

No such thing.

Maybe lower priced, or affordable.

One way to approach this, buy the best you can afford plus a little more - meaning save a little extra. Consider buying something you may not want to upgrade latter on, which gets expensive.

Rogue Audio, Prima Luna, Quick Silver, or Black Ice Audio.

If you really want a soundstage sound it is expensive..You Have to match your Tube Amp with Speakers and cables ,DAC ,USB Cable for Streaming,..

I started with Raven Audio Blackhawk and when you start buying Military tubes cost start to add up along with cost of Amp.

But from Raven Audio bought the speakers that were designed for the Amps purchased from them...

But tube amps when matched with speakers and cables are the most enjoyable and musical reward to your ears...But Costly..

I second Rogue Audio. I have the Cronus Magnum II and it is probably worth twice the price. Great base which can be missing in some lower end tube amps. Amazing mid and high end. Phono pre-amp is above average. Two other inputs make it quite flexible without adding extra items. As a bonus RA will add inputs to allow for external preamps so you can grow with this integrated amp into a power amp.

Speaker pairing is huge. I recommend a dealer who will let you bring your amp in to audition speakers at the shop. The RA CM has lots of base so you may find some speaker pairings to have too much for your taste.

I started the tube journey with a highly rated Consonance integrated from China. It had been favorably reviewed, used 4 of my target 300B tubes, so gave a less scary power output number for the speakers I had at the time, etc... It was a safer move for many reasons. I bought and rolled several sets of power tubes... It is a good unit and really gave me a feel for the tubes. It is a Consonance Ref5.5 and a friend has it now beginning his tube journey.

Maybe just get something cheap to get your feet wet. I’m much further down the 300B path now, but that first decent integrated gave me the sandbox to play in.

Tubes are fun.
It’s adventure and a pathway like one of those mystical books. What I did was read about the most admired vintage tube amps and bought those on ebay, and then sold them on and got different ones. I think you should start with el34’s or 6L6 amps. Learn about how they match with the components you have. And then think about the fact that some of your components might not play well with tubes.

Oh I thought about a big caveat here, I like a very vintage tube-y sound. A lot of people here like tubes that are much more modern sounding. That is not my taste, so you might find out where you land in this world. There are some tubes, the ones that are more powerful, that often sound like a slightly warmer non tube amp. That is not my preference, I want a thick, slow, big tube sound with a beautiful midrange blume. To each his own.

One more thing, most of the vintage amps aren’t amp and pre together. A few are and there are good Chinese amps that are. Anyway, I find vintage tube amps and horn speakers the most enjoyable (and visceral) end of our hobby.

What speakers do you have and all your gear 

Perhaps a bit pricey but I like the Rogers stuff made in the U.S. 

@scotthiga 

Just buy something that is interesting to you and that you can afford.  Make sure you have efficient speakers.  
 

If it sounds good to you, that’s all that matters.  
Merry Christmas!

I recently purchased a Willsenton R8 then proceeded to “roll” tubes to tweak the sound to my liking.

Fantastic amp, really good staging and dynamics and a perfect entry into tubes.

ROON / Tidal

Auralic Aries S1

Chord Mscaler

Chord Hugo TT2

Willsenton R8

Quad Revela 1 Bookshelf’s 

I found that vintage Dynaco amps are very affordable when wetting your beak on tube amps. I've also tried a Prima Luna integrated amp and really liked that too.

Tubes are fun, rolling them can turn into an obsession.   Great advice already, if you can, identify the sound signature you are after.  It can vary depending on design.  Some designs lean into tube magic, bloom.  Other designs focus on bridging the gap between SS and Tube amplification often leading to Tube amps that sound more like SS amps with a touch of Tube magic.  If you are new to tubes if you can find a unit with auto bias / bad tub indicators it will ease you into the maintenance of keeping Tube amps running, sounding there best a bit easier. 

I think a PrimaLuna EVO 100 Integrated is a great starting point. 
 

Very good quality and built like a tank. It’s also easy to tube roll.

Vincent Audio has 2 models below $1000, look for B stock or open box. Not very tubey sound but that was just my ears, my speakers.

You could also get a preamp with tubes, my favorite pairing is tube preamp, SS amp.

@scotthiga   If you really want to experience what tubes are all about suggest you do a simple  SET integrated with a full range driver.

Check out Analogue Ethos.  You can do a kit or prebuilt. Beautiful cosmetics and I suspect great sounding as well. Other great options would be Erhard Audio, Elekit, AN kits, among others.   Pair that up with an Omega speaker (or similar efficient easy to drive design).

Certainly you could go with a push-pull tube design if you want something to drive your current speakers.  Just keep in mind not all speakers play well with tube amps. Synergy is key.  Otherwise, you could end up with something inferior to your current amp.  (BTW, it would be helpful if you post more info on your system. Otherwise, you will get many random opinions--including mine.)

Thanks for the many and interesting responses. I own Klipsch Heresy IV’s (99 dB sensitivity) and Omega DynaTen XRS’s (90 db sensitivity). On both speaker sets I’ve paired them with REL T9x subwoofers. Electronics on the Omega DynaTen XRS’s is a Naim Uniti Atom. The Klipsch Heresy IV’s are paired with a Technics SU-G700. Both systems use Maze Audio cables. Music is streamed (I don't own a turntable). The Klipsch Heresy IV's use a BluSound Node 2i for streaming. Thanks for your continuing commentary!