Tube Amp Recommendation for a solid state guy

You may want to take a look at the Chinese preamps offered by Pacific Valve & Electric: http://www.pacificvalve.us/Preamps.html.

I have no experience with any of them, but I recently purchased a Chinese-made power amp from a dealer on eBay for around $700, a Paxthon VTA-160 (80W/channel using eight EL34's per side). I run it with 90db speakers, listening to mostly classical music. I've been delighted with its sound, and especially struck by the big image it somehow projects, which I wasn't expecting. It's construction quality appears top-notch, also (it isn't particularly big but weighs nearly 60 pounds!).

I'd suspect that you would want significantly more power, though, which would mean significantly more $, and so I agree that a tube pre-amp would probably be a more logical choice for you.

Correction to my previous post: The VTA-160 uses four EL34's per side (eight total), not eight per side. Also, I should have entered the Pacific Valve link as follows:

http://www.pacificvalve.us/Preamps.html

what exactly does it mean to match impedance with a speaker. In practical terms...what do you do to make sure you have a good match?

I've heard some say that tube amps actually make more difference, if you're doing 1/2 solid state and 1/2 tubes. It would be really great if you could borrow some piece of tube gear, amp or pre-amp, and give it a try. If you want more warmth and mid-bass bloom, no question that you're headed in the right direction. A lot of tube gear has really great presence...I don't think you're going to have any problem with the kick you're looking for.

One thing worth considering is that some tube gear has less of the "tube" sound than you may want. Some say that tube and transistor gear are all starting to sound more and more similar. I think there's some truth to that, especially with ARC, for example. There is a fair amount of information and opinion about these issues floating around Audiogon.

How about a hybrid power amp like the Vincent Audio SP-331.