Tube Preamp with Solid State Amp?

Right now,my system consists of an Aric Audio Unlimited tube pre,and a First Watt F5,driving a pair of Graham Chartwell LS3/5’s in a well treated 9x13’ room. To these ears,sounds like wonderful music. I also have a Prometheus TVC passive pre that I swap in from time to time. Right now,I’m really enjoying the distortion that tubes have to offer.  They make my soul smile. 

I personally love that combination. I am running a concert fidelity CF-080LXV2 with 2 Concert Fidelity 200-FX amps. The tubes are on the back of the pre-amplifier and accessible so it is designed for rolling in different tubes.

Long time tube pre/SS amp afectionado here too.  
Big John, I see that you are using a Parasound A-21, which mmemory tells me, has an input impedence of 33K. Just make sure to match the output impedence of your tube pre-amp to the input of your amp.
I've always been told the ratio should be at least 10:1 meaning in your case, the preamp should have no higher than a 3.3K output impedence. Lately, I've seen people that use an even higher ratio of 20:1.   As a "for instance", my good ol' MacIntosh C-20 pr-amp recommend amps with an input impedence of at least 50K.  Violating this rule can lead to a diminished bass response.
Not to worry, you still will have a large amount of pre-amps to choose.

 
jeffjoeblob5 posts
05-10-2020 10:47am
Good sound, in concept. I use an ancient (1963) Macintosh C-20 with solid state amps, with my magneplanars. I've tried other preamps, but none sound as clear an accurate as my old Mac. Whatever you do, get a high quality preamp.

Hey Jeff!   Another member of the C-20 club. Alright!
Got my first C-20 back in 1977, and after I went quadraphonic I bought a second in 1980. Still use both of them: line level - one just before my front channel amp and one just before my rear channel amp. This was long before the term "tube buffer" was ever thought up.
I've had them in for various services over the years, and then sent them both out to a MacIntosh repair facility in Arizona for a general re-cap about 12 years ago.  Don Sachs had them in about seven years ago to refurbish/improve them even more.  My s/n ratio is now almost 10db higher than the original specs.
These are more than a couple of pre-amps. They've become good ol' friends.

I've been running tube preamps and SS amps since my start in this hobby. I currently have a ARC Ref 2 Mark II preamp with a pair of maxed out Odyssey Audio Kismet Monoblocks. I l love the combination and the SQ is great,