If you had to choose: tube amp or tube pre-amp?

A good tube preamp would certainly be an improvement, but your original question was an either /or tube pre-power amp.

I would go with a tube preamp as the pre is the heart of the system and has a huge tonal influence on the system. I love tube amps, but don't like dealing with too many tubes in my total system. I opted for a hybrid amp which gets me closer to an all tube amp without the hassle of power tubes.

So tube pre and hybrid amp! This is a great combo....

If my speakers could run off of 8 SET watts, then I would have a tube amp for sure. Only one power tube per side needed. However when needing 100 watts or more, a hybrid can be a nice option.

You're right Charles, the topic started to deviate...but this been extremely helpful. So it sounds like I'll start with the tube pre over an amp!

The last thing I'll ask, when I select a pre-amp are there any factors I should look for to determine if it's going to match well with the B&K amp???

Grannyring,
Yes life is very simple and enjoyable with SET amps.One output,driver and rectifier tube per monoblck, that`s it.
Regards,

You don't necessarily think that if the Emotiva was running to a tube preamp instead of Sony's SS it would help reduce the sharpness of the music?

Don't know. Depending on the particular tube preamp it might help somewhat, or it might turn out to just be more revealing of the shortcomings of the DAC.

In any event, if it is a matter of choosing which of the three components to upgrade, IMO it would make sense to upgrade the one that is the root cause of the problem, which appears to be the DAC.

If you are perceiving objectionable and similar sound quality with and without the preamp section of the Sony receiver in the signal path, it says that the preamp section is not the weak link in your system, and is not the primary contributor to the thinness and harshness you appear to be describing. If the tube preamp you were to choose were to largely resolve the problem, it would most likely mean that it is introducing colorations and inaccuracies that are complementary to those of the DAC.

In the near term, that would probably not produce as good a result as replacing the component that is the root cause of the problem. In the long term, if you were to eventually upgrade the DAC you would then be using it with a preamp that is complementing colorations and inaccuracies that are no longer there.

Finally, my impression is that good quality DAC's can be had these days at significantly lower prices than most good quality tube preamps.

IMO. Hope that helps. Regards,
-- Al