As was mentioned several times earlier get a tube preamp with octal tubes like the 6sn7, also a tube rectifier. I put a tube preamp in front of my krell amp and it sounds great, it sounded horrible with the solid state preamps I had. I know you can spend big money and get a really good sounding solid state preamp, but in my price range a tube preamp was better than the solid state preamps in the same price range.
Tubes?
I have Revel Salon 2 speakers. Sensitivity is about 85 db. and 4 ohms. They are power hungry speakers. Currently, I am driving them with McIntosh 601's and a McIntosh solid state preamp. I was look looking at a pair of McIntosh MC2301. They are tube amps rated at 300 watts into 2 - 8 ohm loads. I listen to all types of music (sometimes at very high levels). I never run out of power with the 601's, but I am very intrigued with tubes. This may be a misconception, but I remember some friends who played guitar saying, tube watts were louder than solid state? Perhaps this is not really true or not true regarding home stereo. Perhaps the best idea is to keep the 601's and get a good tube preamp? Thanks, Dave