Importance of Amplifier versus Preamp?

I generally agree with Syntax; great pre-amp and very good amp if a compromise has to be be made. In this case, however, I think an integrated really makes sense. There are some very nice tube and solid state choices listed here right now in the $1K-$1.5K range if you want to buy used (or new, the Wyrd4sound mINT integrated w dac and headphone amp is a new piece). Your speaker choice is very important in terms of going to tube vs. solid state amplification. Generally "speaking", speakers with lower sensitivity (listed in specs as dB/watt/meter or foot), those spec'd as nominally lower impedance (4 ohms or less) or with large variations in impedance with frequency, are better suited for solid state amps. Conversely, higher sensitiviy, higher impedance, more constant impedance curves are well suited for tube amps. Since you like rock and blues, I'm thinking that if you went tube, an "ultra-linear", tetrode or pentode circuit type would be more to your liking. They make more power with the same tubes and are often described as having more "drive" than triode circuits. For a variety of reasons, most people feel that tube "watts" are more powerful than solid state "watts". Of course, from an electrical standpoint, watts is watts, but to many people's ears, a 50 wpc tube amp would sound as powerful as a 100 wpc (or more) solid state.

Of course you want the amp and preamp to be faithful to the source but after using several preamps with my amp (McCormack DNA 125) I realized one thing quickly....that the amp was not the bottleneck. In fact that amp went through several upgrade phases and I felt no need to change it out. I used three different preamps and three different pairs of speakers during the time I had it. I have since replaced it with a pair of Quicksilver mono amps. Are they better ? In some ways yes, but that DNA 125 was a great amp.

Its more useful to discuss the order in which one tackles these things.

For best results fastest, you always want to get the biggest issues resolved first.

That is the amp/speaker/room domain That makes it very important to get this area all right together first.

Only then you are in a position to judge whats upstream further for its "sound quality", much of which is a very personal and highly subjective decision making process, hence the interest shown there by many.

But first thing is first. Tackle the biggest issues first! That's basic engineering best practice. You have to get the biggest nuts and bolts right first before sweating the details, no matter how important those are as well. In the case of a home audio system, that is the amp/speaker/room "subsystem".

Other ways might work out in the end but will take longer and likely end up costing more total.

In some cases, like with a single source with volume control, you could well end up with no pre-amp. Or if more than one source, possibly an inexpensive passive pre-amp that frees up money for elsewhere where truly needed.

01-27-15: Rockanroller
as far as budget , I am looking at maybe another 1500.

I said it before, and I'll say it again, integrated amp.
It will work better at your level, $1500, and a whole lot more.

With a limited budget and modest expectations as already established by your selection of speakers (I'm not suggesting that your Polks are a poor choice, Polk actually puts out some good speakers at a reasonable price) it would appear to me that you are locked into an integrated amp or a receiver. The big difference with a receiver and an integrated amp is the inclusion of a phono stage and an AM/FM tuner in most receivers. Additionally most receivers will also include tone controls, which if properly implemented and used, can compensate for some room problems (often no more than those caused by speaker placement often too close to a wall behind them), or source, or component matching issues. Line stages are very popular now but they can be rather limited in the functions they include, and usually cost more, but will probably offer you better sonic possibilities if you don't need the stuff I mentioned that a receiver can.



Now, for someone to comment further on integrated amps which you might be able to use, you will have to furnish some information about the speakers. Polk has many models and I'm sure that their nominal impedence and efficiency will differ substantially. You should supply the model number and these spec's.

It might also be helpful if posters were to know what your long range goals are, assuming you have them at all. Lots of folks are quite satisfied with modest systems and would rather spend their time and money on software once they have reached a certain level (and some want SOTA systems so long as they are on the cheap, so to speak:-). Unfortunately they don't!) Think about it, you could save a lot of time and money over the long haul by being realistic about what you really want or need, and how much money you can really chase after it.