If you are going to keep most everything you may consider a tube preamp. Don Sachs can make you a great piece for under 2k. You may be shocked at how much different the sound of your system can be just from the addition of a quality preamp. Other companies have tube pre's or hybrids in your price range.
beginner seperate system
all the listening I do leads to crazy high prices. anyone out there that can do great high fi on a couple grand budget? I have nad 275bee bridged mono with focal aria 948. I would like to experiment with maybe a tube setup or a really reverby ss if exists. I have a couple rythmik 15 in subs that can do bass. have a few headphone systems that really have opened my eyes on sound. can hifi wonky/tubes be done with subs? and lowest entry point worth the money? would be great to find something under 5k that can play well with aria speakers.