Pure Class A SS vs Tube Amp

Used Krell 400cx. Because you can never have enough power. 

Just keep in mind that a 100db speaker plays 100db volume with 1 single watt of input. With a speaker like that, 90+% of audio preamps and amps provide either more gain than makes sense for the system or more power than you could ever use and probably both.

A preamp that would make sense would provide about 6 db of gain and a tube amp would not need to be more than a few watts for most listening and certainly anything over 10 watts is simply overkill and a waste. You really just need enough headroom to stay within the amps ability to deliver what you need and not push it to where distortion increases. 

Classic triodes and triode wired pentodes would be where I would go. 

I’ve been here.  Look into 2A3 SET amps. They will be excellent and as pure as you’ll ever want. Or Nelson Pass’s First Watt series of amps. All you need is 7 watts and you can still drive yourself out of the room. 

You might want to check out Aric Audio. Tube products. Preamps with variable gain, maxing out at 20dB. Tube amps, SET and push-pull. I recently purchased his Special pre and am loving it. Has a nice Web site.

Lordrootman,
Your decision of the Aleph First Watt is a good one. Too bad about no xlr input. I had a Pass Labs Aleph 30 and it had balance inputs and was a very good sounding class A amp.
But I have to say that the tube amps I’ve had since then sound much better at low volumes, which you mentioned is important to you. So I’d look into a tube amp w/ balanced inputs if this is a factor for you.