Advice on tube amp/pre

The ARC SP-16 has an intagrated phono stage. The pre is quite lush sounding and, in my opinion, is most suiting if digital is your primary medium. I use the phono stage occasionally, but it isn't quite as good as most arc stand-alone phonos.

I sell and own ARC and ProAc. Stuart Tyler (ProAc's designer) has used Audio Research tube amplifiers for years.

The D25's get along very well with any of the tube preamps from the SP16 on up and also don't need very much power. I drive them with the VS55 all the time and get excellent results. At the other end of the price spectrum, I also love them with the REF3 & REF110 combination.

I ended up putting a small (30w/channel) tube integrated into my system with the D25's. It is an amazingly good sound, my first venture with tubes so I do not know how much better it can get (the unit is a Nelson image 66i using KT66's). I added a turntable and black box phono pre also. Where i am looking next is a higher end setup within the ARC range. Latest I may trade the sim audio as part of that move (though I really love that unit it is now just sitting somewhat idle within my HT setup while my tube interest takes over!).