Do tubes matter beyond gain stage on preamp?

All these comments indicating "everything matters" are correct but they are missing the essence of the OP's question I believe.  He wants to know why many of the higher end preamp designs only use a pair of gain stage 6922's for instance while a manufacturer like Cary or Manley will use an all-tube design with pairs of input, driver, and output tubes combined into the design. I think it's an interesting question and suspect their are schools of design in play here as well as cost of components.  

Short answer: it's not a yes/no answer, they do vs. they don't, it's a question of percentages.

Long answer: it's impossible to generalize.  Almost every tube preamp is going to have a different design/topology.  Depending on a number of variable factors, you can make a preamp that uses just two tubes + ss that sounds better than one using eight or twelve, and vice versa is also true.

As 3-e-p says, beyond this you're getting into design philosophies that different designers hold up as being the best (or which suits them best).

So better to have a couple tubes vs no tubes.

ie. Harmonic distortion is highly desirable vs flat ss.

ashame they dont insert tubes in an av processor.  I run av sound thru a tube pre and it sounds incredible.  

@dekay 

+1 but don't expect a troll to provide details of a made up comment.

jperry, how r u?  Even if made up it would be good, its not. So add somethin or go away.