Tube Pre-amp beneficial?

Thanks for the advice. Conrad Johnson seems to be the popular choice in my price range. Has anyone heard/ can you reccommend BAT pre-amps? A friend suggested the brand but it goes a little above my limit.

Hello Wsmatau: I use a BAT VK50SE. I took home numerous preamps including Rowland, Levinson, CJ, ARC REF1 and REF2. In the end the 50SE was THE one. Nothing else came close in it's price range. Yeah, expensive, and for me worth every penny. Do yourself a favor and try the VK5i, VK30 and 50SE before you buy anything else. System: BAT VK50SE preamp, BAT VKD5 tube CD player, Sony SCD777ES SACD player, Levinson 33H, Aerial 10t. Magic!

As evidenced from the abpve replies, what works in one system may not yeild the same results in another. In general I would agree that a tube pre would introduce the tube coloration known as "warmth." Quite a benefit in a hard and bright sounding system. At the lower price spectrum I would suggest the Anthem pre-amp. It was mentioned above that it may not be tube like enough for you. I would like to mention that some simple tube rolling can make all the difference. Hard to beat at the prices I have seen it listed for lately. Good Luck

I bought a AES AE-3 tube pre-amp for the very same reason. It made a huge impact in my system and brand new is in your price range. I really think it has been my best purchase to date. Tube rolling is very easy since it only has two tubes and you can buy it with or without remote.