It can indeed work both ways, but after going through many combinations, I came to prefer a tube pre and SS amp. The tube pre (a Conrad-Johnson) gave the nice warm tube glow, while the SS amp (McCormack) sounded great, had a better defined low end than the tube amps I'd tried, did not require the general care and feeding of a tube amp, and ran relatively cool rather than serving as a space heater. With the tube pre, the occasional urge to try something new was readily and inexpensively satisfied by tube-rolling the two tubes in the CJ (line stage only). Anyway, that's the cost-benefit reasoning behind my preference for tube preamp and SS power amp.
Tube Pre/SS Amp versus SS Pre/Tube Amp
Hey all:
Just wanted to know what your thoughts as a whole were about these combinations. This all stemmed from my friend coming over and listening to my system one day, and he made an observation that I had a SS Pre (Accuphase C-200) and Tube Monos (AES/Cary Sixpacs). He also made the comment that it's a little unusual for that, stating that when different, people usually choose a Tube Pre and a SS Amp instead of the other way around...
Thoughts?
Just wanted to know what your thoughts as a whole were about these combinations. This all stemmed from my friend coming over and listening to my system one day, and he made an observation that I had a SS Pre (Accuphase C-200) and Tube Monos (AES/Cary Sixpacs). He also made the comment that it's a little unusual for that, stating that when different, people usually choose a Tube Pre and a SS Amp instead of the other way around...
Thoughts?
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