Going Tubing

A good friend who is a very competent EE, has built a range of Amp's in both SS and Valve, of which Valve is their most preferred.

Recently they have bought into a DHT Pre Amp design and have been trying it out on owned Amp's.

The Valve Pre' coupled to a SS Power has proven to be extremely impressive and one they want to demo'  to the Local HiFi Group at a meeting.

Demo's ser aside for the HiFi Group as a result of a experience had, usually prove to be very very well received by those receiving the demo' and new experience.

Like you I had a tube phono pre and wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. so I ordered a Bob Latino ST-70 Dynaco clone. I was shocked at how good it sounded. So It replaced a high $$$ SS amp. I have stepped up to 65 wpc now. My speakers are 93.5 db. However, considering @soix post, I wonder if the VTA ST-120 will work? You could call Dan, the new owner operator and get an opinion. Or, there is a CJ CT-5 preamp on USAM which was a top tier preamp just under the Act 2. Stereophile review said the CT-5 had better slam than the Act 2. Its known that the CT5 comes far to close to the Act 2 performance. The outcome, CJ upgraded the Act 2 to a version 2. The CT-5 never had a version 2 and IMO would be much better than the Black Ice.

Theres also a CJ LP 125SA which is 125 wpc for sale in your price range on USAM. I like to stick with an amp with 4 power tubes rather than 8 due to the cost of tubes. Then too, I don't need the wattage and not sure you do either. You have to make that call. Best of luck

Tubes4hifi vacuum tube amplifiers and kits

I started with a Lazarus tube preamp hooked up to my solid state Distech LS-2 amplifier.  It was a nice combo and improvement over my Hafler preamp, but once I added a refreshed Dynaco 70, followed by the VTA mods on the Dynacos later on, it was a different world. Can't imagine not having tubes in some capacity...so much midrange and treble magic! 

FWIW I drove my old Triton 1.r's with my VAC Renaissance 70/70 with ease. Sounded outstanding! Also FWIW it will be listed on The Music Room next if interested. Fresh from the VAC factory and very new tubes too.

I'm a big fan to tubes and in your case bimmerlover a preamp seems like a good place to start. A really good tubed preamp can be really transformative and a good SS amp will let that tubey goodness shine.