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
Mezmo, everything i've seen, heard or read about the Rogue pre's is very positive. Let us know how things work out for you if you do go that route. Sean
>
If I were to mix and match, I would go along with that youngster tireguy. IMO this is the best way to do it if you must have ss in the system.
Thanks everyone for useful suggestions.
The issues for me come down to taut base,
sweet mids and highs, soundstage and
above all brass blatt.
I have had a wild hair for a tube pre-amp for quite some time. The deal was closed when I went to a pawn shop and found an Audio Research LS15 for $600!! I have to order a remote for the unit, otherwise it is in perfect condtion. I am using a Aragon 4004MKII(hopefully I can get my hands on an 8008BB because it has balanced inputs)and the two have mated up very nicely. The soundstage is tremendous(it extends way beyond the speakers)detailing(guitar picks on the strings, pianos sound like pianos, a thumping noise that I never heard before on one of my discs-a foot pushing on the pedal of the piano), bass has great slam due to the Aragon. The voices, especially female, are smooth, silky and life-like. Prior to the Audio Research, I was using a Jeff Rowland Consonance which is also a great pre-amp. Aragon is made by the folks at Mondial, which has its fingers in Mark Levinson and Proceed products, thus the great sound and bullet-proof amps! The combination of solid state and tube pre-amps make for a good marriage.
I prefer it the other way around... Solid state preamp and a tube power amp. I'm using the CJ PF-R ss preamp and the CJ Premier 11a tube amp. I have tried CJ PV-14L, CJ PV-12, ARC LS16 tube preamps but prefer the solid-solid state preamp in my system.