aberyclark,
Like you, I ran various B&K mosfet based amp systems for 25+ years and understand the interest in tubes if you like that warm B&K sound. The best was the ultra high current dual mono amps and last edition preamps before it all went to AV, ugh. FYI: ATI amplifiers bought the defunct B&K company as you may be aware. I recently learned that ATI is going to bring back the B&K brand, and I suspect it will be very different and updated with ATI designer influence behind it. Years ago I eventually moved from B&K to Cary tube pre-amps/amps along with friends wanting to explore tubes. It's been a lot of fun messing with various tube amps, pre-amplifiers, mods/upgrades. Then one day I tried some of the more recent solid state gear and started playing with mixing tube pre-amp front ends with solid state back end amplifiers. It's another combination I waited way too long to try and now that I have, I will always have this combination and continue to search for a great back-end tube amp that can match it in sound quality, dynamics, and full deep bass. I thought I would never leave tube amps, and probably would not have happened until I heard a newer and much different solid state amplifier paired with with a tube preamplifier with really good NOS tubes. It's going to take a hell of a pair of tube monblocks to replace this tube pre and SS amp combo. The only recommendation I can make is to try (borrow/buy/return) different amps with your speakers until you find a match if you loved the B&K stuff. Took me several tube amps and ss amps to find a match that worked well. Good Luck.
Like you, I ran various B&K mosfet based amp systems for 25+ years and understand the interest in tubes if you like that warm B&K sound. The best was the ultra high current dual mono amps and last edition preamps before it all went to AV, ugh. FYI: ATI amplifiers bought the defunct B&K company as you may be aware. I recently learned that ATI is going to bring back the B&K brand, and I suspect it will be very different and updated with ATI designer influence behind it. Years ago I eventually moved from B&K to Cary tube pre-amps/amps along with friends wanting to explore tubes. It's been a lot of fun messing with various tube amps, pre-amplifiers, mods/upgrades. Then one day I tried some of the more recent solid state gear and started playing with mixing tube pre-amp front ends with solid state back end amplifiers. It's another combination I waited way too long to try and now that I have, I will always have this combination and continue to search for a great back-end tube amp that can match it in sound quality, dynamics, and full deep bass. I thought I would never leave tube amps, and probably would not have happened until I heard a newer and much different solid state amplifier paired with with a tube preamplifier with really good NOS tubes. It's going to take a hell of a pair of tube monblocks to replace this tube pre and SS amp combo. The only recommendation I can make is to try (borrow/buy/return) different amps with your speakers until you find a match if you loved the B&K stuff. Took me several tube amps and ss amps to find a match that worked well. Good Luck.
