I have never had any experience with tubes. So never investigated into tubes. I am worried that when a tube goes bad, it might cause some damage to the system. Besides tube rolling is expensive and I have no experience biasing the tubes.What are your preamp suggestions on balanced tube amps in the $3-$4k range? Will they be compatible with the Parasound A21 amp?Its unlikely that a bad tube would damage the system or tubes simply would not still be around :)
You don't need to 'roll tubes' to hear tube sound although some collector tubes are pretty nice. I stay away from that stuff myself and it does not seem to hurt.
I'm not sure what you can find at that price- does it need to be new? If not, ARC, BAT, Atma-Sphere (disclaimer, I am associated with Atma-Sphere), Shiit, and a pile more I'm not remembering off hand.