Tube preamp question

Swampwalker,
Thank you very much for your response. Interestingly enough I saw the lexicon has the ability for "analog pass through" for certain inputs. When I read that last night I was wondering if it would be possible to connect my universal player to a tube preamp, then to the tube preamp to my lexicon (let's say on AUX with analog pass through" set to on, which then connects to my main amps.
If this would work the tube pre would only be used for the universal player which is fine by me. From reading your post it seems like this would not work as the same basic idea is mentioned only opposite: going through the tube first using a HT pass through.
Basically I only want the tubes for 2 ch through my universal player (possible a turntable in the future) and I would prefer the traditional warmer sound of tubes I've heard a few years ago (I've heard some rogue audio tubes recently and it didn't have that vintage tube sound I've heard on on some Cary's about 5 years ago).
My budget would be in the 2k range but I rarely stay in budget and I love the used market where many deals can be found.

Great info guys. I've read up a bit on all of your suggestions and this seems like a very good way to go and best of both worlds as i can use my existing amps/speakers with my current preamp.
some current audiogon tube preamps in the my general price range are:
BAT vk5i (all balanced)
modwright ls100 (nice to have unbalanced and balanced inputs and outputs)
doge audio 8 (has a balanced out, all inputs are unbalanced which is fine)

I've also looked up cary and it seems the slp-03 has the options i need

after careful consideration to all of the great input i received (i can't thank you all enough) the necessary points of emphasis are a tube preamp with balanced outs (having one set of balanced inputs and outputs, the rest can be unbalanced), a HT passthrough (id prefer if this feature can be used while unit is off), which will mate nicely with spectron musician ii monos and anthony gallo ref 3.1 speakers.

Mechans: i did love the Cary products (as well as mccormack and conrad johnson) when i heard them a while back but i haven't heard any of the newer models. I have recently heard a few newer model (rogue, prima luna integrated) and i did not hear that tube sound i remembered from listening to the older model cary, CJ,etc). i thought they sounded wonderful but if i closed my eyes i would have not been able to tell they were tubes. i am not sure if this was because those models sounded bright or simply this is how newer tube models sound. What i loved on my listening session a few years back was the fact that at low volume i could almost feel the breath of Gilmore and the sound of his fingers sliding up and down on the frets on the "wish you were here" track. It sounded like i was sitting front row at a very small venue rather than hearing the sounds from large speakers at a stadium.

I would remove the modwright as many say it has a detailed SS sound.
Cary slp-03, cary 2002, bat vk5i and bat vk30 all seem to be possibilities in my price range. I've heard mixed reviews about noise on the doge model.

Thanks for the input Jmcgrogan2 , I appreciate it.
Right now I run full balanced from my av pre to my mono amps and I love it. If I were to add a tube pre with a ht bypass that was non balanced would this now make my system unbalanced since it's connected in line? I might be overthinking this a bit but your point makes me wonder. I absolutely love the sound of Conrad Johnson but all of their models are single ended.

Demo'd a whole assortment of preamps the past two weeks. i must say most (not all) were very nice, each having their own set of characteristics. i have heard, prima luna , rogue, audio research, cary, aesthetix, ayre and a few others. Of those mentioned i liked the aesthetix calypso and ayre (kx5 i believe) to be the best. i still have not been able to demo any BAT products which i really wanted to. i haven't heard that perfect symmetry with my clad D spectrons but I'm on my way *im trying thats for sure)

i believe there is one not too far, ill defiantly inquire. The arc 17se really makes my amp/speakers sound better (best I've heard thus far) but I'm really missing the mid bass i heard with the Ayre. if these were my only two options id keep the arc ,even without the med bass, the highs really sing. I've never heard the Gallos sound this nice at such a low volume.
i am still eager to demo some aesthetic products and i would love to try (no dealer anywhere near me) a modwright.