Looking for a good place to start

I am going to make some assumptions. That your amp and speakers work well with each other and that your not interested in changing both at this time to go into tubes.
If that is the case, then maybe try a tube preamp making sure the impedances work between amp and preamp and go from there. Most preamp tubes last several thousand hours so there should be no problem with tubes for a few years. It would also let you think about how much downstream you want that effect.
Just my thought.

Cmalak..
I currently have B&W 602S3's as my front HT speakers driven by a Pioneer VSX-94TXH. My intent was to incorporate a switch to allow me to shift their input from HT to analog. I plan on spending in the $1k range for a turntable and the same for a tube amp. I'm strategiaclly located about 1.5 hours from DC, Baltimore and Richmond :-( Not sure of any Hi-Fi dealers in those areas. Not knowing what it takes to get analog going those numbers can shift to the other side as needed. I don't want to cheap out and have a bad experience. I can remember listening to vinyl as a kid on a marantz system and I've been chasing that sound ever since...

Uru975...
I am not interested in making a lot of changes just what I need to do in order to satisfy my primal urges for vinyl. I don't quite understand your pre-amp suggestion.

Botit,
A lot of people seem to feel that they can get the best of both by having a tube preamp and a solid state amp. There is a lot in the archives on this. It was just a thought for a minimum change and let you see if that satisfied your desire or if you wanted even more.
A good place to start would be to borrow a tube preamp on home demo and see if that provided you with the tube sound you are looking for. Again YMMV.
Hope that helps.

Botit,
Was just looking at new threads, and one newer than yours is "go with a tube preamp or..." That might further enlighten you as to what the possibilities are.
Regards,
Michael