Looking for advice, recommendations

My system started out as separates into a stereo power amp.
At some point 10 years in the power amp died and I went to tube mono blocks.

Later the preamp was replaced with a tube preamp. And later that replaced with another tube preamp.
Then the monoblock tube amps replaced with a stereo tube amp… which I feel so so about. But it is pretty good.

If you had a set of earphones/headphones it is likely easier to get the front end evaluated and dialed in.

I think my front-end was pretty good before… (ARC phono into Audible Illusions).
It is just as good now.

On a lark, I put some AIYAMA A-07 $70 power amps onto the system to evaluate them for a HT integration.  It was amazing good. The Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium power amp is better, but not by miles… and not by a lot.

Yeah I have need looking at Atmasphere mono blocks.

But I would suggest your. Path 2 is what is most clearly one that will meet the goal. So just shove in a pair of the A-07s as bi-wire/bi-amp mono blocks for now, and get the front half sorted out. Maybe that Sachs one… But the used ARC suggestion is also good.

Once that is seeming to come together, then you have a system while you figure out what to do for the power amps.

With a $6k budget and already having speakers I would be putting $5k into a used preamp, the $140 into the cheap amps, and then speaker wires and RCAs to go from the pre way out to amps sitting slope to the speakers can be done for well within the remaining budget.

Sonically, I like the sound of tubes.  I want a three dimensional sound, with well defined space around each instrument and vocalist.  Looking for more detail, without harshness. 

You get a lot of ^that^ with the speakers.
The preamp can mostly only degrade things from the source, but it is also really doing a lot, and one makes or breaks things right at the front of the signal path..

Generally the amp does not make “the magic happen”… one can only loose something (detail), or add some harshness or noise with an amp. But an amp that cannot drive the load adds a lot more :character”. But every amp adds its own sonic character to varying degrees, 

The amps generally do not make the sound that you describe, and the Benchmark and Atmasphere that you mentioned are ones that don’t add a lot extra distortion in.

Powering a SS amp with a tube pre is usually a pretty solid recipe for getting good sound. And starting at the front and moving down stream is a pretty safe and reliable way to upgrade “a chain”. Put in strong links as you identify them, and don’t worry about having a weak link or two. Working the forge and anvil, one makes a chain “one link at a time”.

 

Thank you everyone for your recommendations. I think I will replace my output tubes first, probably with KT 88s or KT 66s.

You could do ^that^ and stop there?

Next step will probably be preamp. Power amps will come after that.

If you are doing the preamp then why even do the KT88 tubes?
Just use the funds from selling the integrated to move to a preamp and power amp.

The KT88 tubes are a dead end upgrade, unless you are open to the idea of stopping there. It the plan is to have more upgrades, then it is an illogical step and a waste of funds.. (But it seems pretty logical to just do that and stop).

The speakers I have are probably my end game speakers, at least until a have to move into an old folks home. Then I will downsize.

This is great - you one piece that is set in stone, and that defines what the power amp needs to do.

If the speakers were in question too, then that makes the problem have another degree of freedom and it becomes wildly complex.