Broke and still not happy

I wouldn't look past the tubes in your pre. You may have some tubes that don't work well in the preamp and/or sounds like the ringing sound could be microphonics.

Get rid of the active preamp and get a passive. Experiment with cables, try some Cardas Golden Cross and Cardas Golden power cords.
Amps like Mark Levinson would make it worse..
Try out an amp like Rogue 88 or Air Tight...
I myself have walked into some shops and heard extremely expensive systems, only to feel that they were sterile and dry, lacking body warmth and maybe even a little too clean.

Xiekitchen, I don't know if you can get too clean. But you can have clean without involvement in my experience.

Dsiggia.... might be right. I have a Sonic Frontiers Line 2 preamp and I noticed that it's very picky on the tubes that you use. Try replacing the first 4 tubes with cheap match quads JAN-Philips 6922 from tubestore.com and a pair of 6H23n-EB for the rear.

I definitely second and third the suggestion to try different cables. I nearly took a pair of speakers back yesterday until I started changing interconnects. With the right combination, they went from sounding distant and uninvolving to being absolute keepers.

The tube amps will also warm up many systems. Most fellow lifetime musicians I know prefer them for their ability to reveal the humanity in the playing, for lack of a better term. There are no absolutes in audio, but I think the suggestion of getting a tube amp could be your ticket. It's just a matter of getting the type that is appropriate to the music you prefer--as in SET, push-pull, triode...

Have you listened without the vibrapods? With my CD player, they actually made the bottom end sound thuddy.
Don't give up. It can be very frustrating, but following up with the suggestions that people have made here will undoubtedly lead you to what you want.