Solid state to tube

They came with tubes installed I see some extra ones but not sure if they are good.

I aimed Dan  at modwright. Very impressed that he actually took the time to email back almost immediately. He mentioned a few tubes to try  here is what he said

"Hi, the SWL 9.0SE uses a 5AR4/GZ34 and two 5687's. Tung-Sol and Raytheon 5687's are some of the best. For the rectifier, a good Amperex, Brimar or other English GZ34 will sound best"

I have a pair of reference 3a L integrale they are a 2 way floor standard I think they are 91db . I was going to use the tube mono blocks or st 70 clone with them

I also have a pair of Salk Sound SSM6 stand mounts but they are 86 db sensitivity so I probably will let those go my room size is 18 wide x 20 long with 7 foot ceiling thanks for all the responses. I think I may try a Will Vincent design. I talked with him he sounds like an old school guy with much passion and knowledge and his build quality looks great

Will vincent has a pair of 80 watt tube monoblocks $3500 thats,about my top end limit.

Thanks for all the great help.

Based on what I have read here I might hold off on going to a tube power amp. I will try a tube pre amp first and run it with my current YBA 1 solid state amp.

I will also try with my Meitner mono blocks to see which I prefer.

I currently use a older YBA signature pre amp with seperate power supply I think when I purchased it back in 2002 it was 10k so I wonder at what price point I will need to be at to get a comparable tube pre

The YBA model is a YBA1 high current it was 1 step below their top of line which at that time was the signature line.

I have decided on any tube pre amps but that 3k mark would still be my budget.

I didn't really have any short list for tube preamps.

I only really use a dedicated streamer

And dedicated dac. Apparently I have just been informed that my DAC has a great volume control and can act as a pre amp.

My DAC is a French mfg called TotalDAC

Totaldac is d1 core which is their entry level so no tube output stage. I see on totacdacs website that he connects dac direct to amp 

My current pre amp

Is the YBA Signature series

Hi winoguy. Interested th know what tube pre you settled with and what is your amplification?

What did you swap out the tube pre from

What was the most noticeable difference ss pre to tube pre?

I have decided to pickup a used Modwright 9.0 tube line stage to start. Will swap out my yba solid state pre and run the modwright with either my yba stereo amp or meitner mt101 mono blocks.

Thanks for all the great advice

So I bought the modwright 9.0 and hooked it up.

First impression. Wow!! I have been using the yba solid state pre and power through my reference 3a lintegrale but I always thought they lacked bass punch but the Soundstage and imaging is where they excelled.

I normally hook up my salksound SSM6's and they have better tighter bass.

With the modwright tube in the loop the reference 3a's sound much better better bass slam and same imaging.

I am liking very much what I hear.

Will try with my Salk's next.

tracks I used to test where

Dominique "Birds"

TIERNY Sutton :Big Yellow Taxi:

Yello "The Vanishing of Peter strong"

And of course Gordon Lightfoot "Early Morning Rain" 

So now that I have this modwright 9.0 tube preamp and I am liking what I hear so far. I might keep my YBA 1 dual mono amp and since I have always wanted to own a Nelson Pass product I may look on the used market for a pair of older Aleph 60's and see how they sound