Thinking about buying a different tube preamp...

I am surprised no one mentioned CAT SL-1, perhaps the most famous and long lived preamp with built in phono. It is also one of the few that can drive any SS amp due to it's 100 ohm output impedance. The latest and greatest incarnation is called Renaissance.

Dealer disclosure

Kyomi_audio, I did look at one that is still listed for sale on this site. It was a serious contender, but I don't remember why I didn't choose it. Looked at many.

FWIW it sounds like the amp has too much gain.

You should not have to insert a passive control to set things right- and don't think for a minute that passive controls don't have an effect! If you can eliminate it you will get more immediacy and more impact.

We use tube preamps on speakers that have a good 12 db more efficiency than yours with no problems. So its my opinion that you have a matching problem or a noise problem at the input of the amp.

Did the Jolida have noise without the passive??

The SLP-98P is very nice. Only downside is that it uses 6SN7 tubes so tube-rolling will be expensive and difficult. I have 13,000 vintage 12AU7's and maybe 500 6SN7. They are about gone in the world of NOS. But the stock Chinese 6SN7 sound great.

If you can find a PrimaLuna DiaLogue Three that would rock. They rarely come up used. But from the standpoint of build and sound it will compete with the most expensive out there regardless of cost and it has only 10dB of gain using 12AU7's.

The Manley Chinook is the best phono stage I know of for under $3500. It sells new for $2250 (going up to $2400) and there was a dude selling a used one for $1799 I think if you look. If you shop hard for those two it may barely meet your budget.

Can always go for Black Treasure or Psvane CV181s (6sn7s)