Joule Electra preamp and Aragon 4004 mkII

Thanks Mitch2 , Ralph and Signaturesound for digging deeper into my issue. I've since been thinking about a tubed integrated on the cheap to go with the Kilipsch, maybe vintage.   I can no longer afford to spend like I once did at Audiogon for newer stuff.   

If you really are thinking about vintage, Dynaco made a wonderful little amp called the SCA-35. Its class A and makes about 15 watts per channel.

If you find one it would have to be refurbished, and there are several inexpensive mods that will give it slightly more power with slightly less distortion. Unless you have an enormous room, this will be plenty of power with speakers of 101 db.

@atmasphere Boy Ralph, that brings back some (fond) memories! Me and my older brother shared one of those in my early teens. My dad picked it up used - basically it was my first amplifier! No wonder I like tubes so much! I have to imagine a refurbished one with some updates/improvements would be pretty sweet on a pair of HE speakers.

Interesting about the SCA-35 since I have high regard for both Ralph and Rich.

My first stereo included Dynakits which I built, although not the SCA-35. Still, due to nostalgia I read comments on the old Dyna gear from time to time.   From that, the one piece of tube gear with the least respect seems to be the SCA-35.  So now maybe some of those folks were not well informed.

At some point years ago I ended up with a SCA-35 and FM-3 from some trading.  I also had a Lowther corner horn (one channel only) which I used to demo the Dyna components.  The first person to come audition them bought them.  That may not have pleased a critical audiophile but it certainly was musical. ;^)

The SCA-35 is certainly musical. But I don't think its strengths are realized on many systems. Dynaco imposed come compromise on the circuit but some of them are easily fixed. The speaker terminals are a pain...