Tubes plus SS


Much has been written on tubes vs. solid state.
However, I have heard some very nice things from
systems with solid state amps and tube preamps.
Has anyone had similar experience? Any recommendations
on pairing solid state and tubes in this way?
judit
I have the exact opposite, solid state preamp and tube amp, I am VERY pleased with the sound. YMMV,
Tim
I have a couple of tube amps/solid state amps & I occasionally mix n match them. Solid state and tube stuff do sound 'good'.

BUT, I found that once I had ALL amplification stages running tube (as in my arc ph-3, bat vk-5i, and arc vt100), you take a pretty big jump. All of a sudden the music is REALLY alive with the full-on tube magic. To date that is probably the most engaging system I have.

It doesn't have a wisp of the ultra-resolution that I get from SACD's on my SCD-1/Aleph P/Aleph 2, but definitely more 'alive'.

Swapping a single solid state component into this rig ruins the vinyl playback. Wish I could get my CD's to sound so good...

Anybody out there find a similar effect with a tube cd player ?
I've used the Sonic Frontiers Line 2 tube pre-amp with McCormack DNA2DX for a couple years, and then with Rev. A upgrade, and all sound great. I personally highly recommend tube pre-amps with good solid state amps (the SS for bass control). Cheers. Craig
if i had to run half and half. i sure hope that something amp or preamp would contain tubes. conrad would be a good match to tame the krell if that is the amp you plan to keep.
I agree with Tireguy, IF I have to use an active preamp (I prefer passive attenuation), I've gotten better results going with a solid state preamp and a tube amplifier.