Tube Preamp/solid pwr amp or solid pre/ tube pwr

I think Raquel nailed it. I have long had a tube pre with a SS amp exactly because I can't afford a very good tube power amp. I can, however afford a good SS amp. I paid a bit under $1500 for a new, one-off Odyssey Stratos HT3 with cap upgrade. For my speakers, which, like your B&Ws, need fairly beefy amplification, $1500 for a tube power amp would have gotten me nowhere.

Other factors to consider:

Heat. A tube pre won't generate a significant amount of heat, but a tube power amp usually does. If you don't like the idea of sitting in sweat while you listen in the warmer months, a cooler-running SS amp is preferable.

Reliability. All tubes can fail, but tube life in most preamps exceeds tube life in most power amps, and biasing is usually not an issue, so a SS amp requires less care and feeding. I once had my dad's old Bogen tube integrated catch fire. Yes, I am scared of a tube power amp.

Impedance matching. My previous pre was C-J PV-11. A great preamp, for sure, but until I upgraded to a McIntosh (a brand known for tube preamps that play well with SS power amps), I didn't realize that I was missing about an octave of bass on the bottom. With the right power amp (SS or tube) I am sure the C-J could reproduce that octave, but with the Stratos, it went missing. I almost fell out of my chair when I hooked up the McIntosh and played some music with deep bass in it.

I have no idea what the impedance matching issue is for SS preamps with tube power amps.

I don't ever recall hearing the B&Ws with tube power amps, either at dealers or at shows, FWIW. B&W owns Classe, and I have heard Classe SS amps (and preamps) make nice sounds with B&W speakers. That doesn't mean tubes won't work, just that the folks at B&W might not be thinking along those lines when they voice and design their products.

Lastly, consider a hybrid power amp, like models from Aesthetix, Vincent or Butler. You get the benefits of a tubed input stage without the challenges of a tubed output stage.

Lots of advice offered both good and bad. You might look to see how many own N802's. I did, and they all own something else. So, there's a lot of conjecture going on.

The idea of Classe being a dream match is just that, a dream. I had Classe amps and I had decent sound. Ultimately too lean through the midbass and lower midrange and a propensity for midrange glare. The W4S amp trumps them in every category.

The VAC tube amp is not bad at all on the N802, better then the Classe but not as good as the W4S.

Let me make it clear, I'm not saying the W4S is the best SS amp, it is the best match I've heard on the N802 coupled with a tube preamp. My W4S amp does have the WBT output terminals and I use a power cord that cost as much as the amp so that may skew the results of someone else using a different configuration. The results speak/sound for themselves.

04-17-12: Bondmanp
I have no idea what the impedance matching issue is for SS preamps with tube power amps.

Usually none. Solid state preamps will usually have relatively low output impedance, and tube power amps will usually have relatively high input impedance, which is an ideal combination. The higher output impedance of many (but not all) tube preamps, and the rise in that output impedance that will often occur at deep bass frequencies as a result of the output coupling capacitor they commonly use, combined with the relatively low input impedance of many solid state power amps, will cause the deep bass rolloff you experienced, and/or other frequency response anomalies.

Regards,
-- Al

Speaker matching is definitely a priority and I agree with Raquel and Almarg's points. My uncle who has a very large 2 channel room with Magenplanar speakers is using a tube pre from Audio Research and Threshold SA/1 monoblocks. The sound from his system was divine. In a nearfield set-up I had really sweet sounding music from a SS Accuphase C-200 preamp and a Baldwin 6L6 tube amp. The speakers were KEF 103/3s at the time.

I'm going to try and see if the Accuphase will match up well with a Jolida 502P tube amp. I'm wondering if anyone else has tried matching an Accuphase preamp to a tube amp.

I'd like to try a tube preamp with an SS amp but I really like the SS preamps I have now.

I think I would go nuts with an all separates tube system. Tubes to roll in your sources, tubes to be rolled in your preamp, various tubes to be rolled in your amp. To many combinations to worry about and/or keep track of. Argh!!

Let me refine my response. Like all of the rest of you I don't think that every tube amp, can drive difficult speaker loads. There are frequently powerful tube amps that will work, but perhaps not optimally with all speakers. If you have a reasonable speaker, that permits tube power amp use, then I strongly advocate their use. The sound is quite special IMO and is not dramatically altered in quality by an SS pre.