I think the question is a little too simplistic. While the general feedback provided is probably correct, there are many other factors to consider.
Which tube amp would you consider? Alot of tube amps are designed primarily for high efficiency speakers. If you want something to potentially improve on your Levinsons, you may need to change speakers to expand the pool of canidates further than the big ARCs, VTLs, Atma-Spheres, etc.
With a tube preamp, you can get a taste of tubes without worrying about your speakers. As others mentioned, you do need to check compatibility with the amp, but this may not limit you as much.
From a practical standpoint, tubes are more of a hassle then SS (recurring cost, reliability, noise, heat, availability, etc). However, tubes in the preamp seem to have less of these issues, so this may also tilt things for you in favor of trying a tube preamp.
Frankly, since your happy with your SS system now, I wouldn't recommend changing to tubes. There is no guarantee you will be happier just because you now have tubes. I respect what tubes bring to the table and some people's preferences, but "tubes don't always rule." I've always thought that if you can get happy with a state of-the-art SS setup, then why bother changing to tubes. You may notice some benefits, but I bet you also find some tradeoffs too.
Which tube amp would you consider? Alot of tube amps are designed primarily for high efficiency speakers. If you want something to potentially improve on your Levinsons, you may need to change speakers to expand the pool of canidates further than the big ARCs, VTLs, Atma-Spheres, etc.
With a tube preamp, you can get a taste of tubes without worrying about your speakers. As others mentioned, you do need to check compatibility with the amp, but this may not limit you as much.
From a practical standpoint, tubes are more of a hassle then SS (recurring cost, reliability, noise, heat, availability, etc). However, tubes in the preamp seem to have less of these issues, so this may also tilt things for you in favor of trying a tube preamp.
Frankly, since your happy with your SS system now, I wouldn't recommend changing to tubes. There is no guarantee you will be happier just because you now have tubes. I respect what tubes bring to the table and some people's preferences, but "tubes don't always rule." I've always thought that if you can get happy with a state of-the-art SS setup, then why bother changing to tubes. You may notice some benefits, but I bet you also find some tradeoffs too.