Tubes plus SS

I have had a wild hair for a tube pre-amp for quite some time. The deal was closed when I went to a pawn shop and found an Audio Research LS15 for $600!! I have to order a remote for the unit, otherwise it is in perfect condtion. I am using a Aragon 4004MKII(hopefully I can get my hands on an 8008BB because it has balanced inputs)and the two have mated up very nicely. The soundstage is tremendous(it extends way beyond the speakers)detailing(guitar picks on the strings, pianos sound like pianos, a thumping noise that I never heard before on one of my discs-a foot pushing on the pedal of the piano), bass has great slam due to the Aragon. The voices, especially female, are smooth, silky and life-like. Prior to the Audio Research, I was using a Jeff Rowland Consonance which is also a great pre-amp. Aragon is made by the folks at Mondial, which has its fingers in Mark Levinson and Proceed products, thus the great sound and bullet-proof amps! The combination of solid state and tube pre-amps make for a good marriage.

I prefer it the other way around... Solid state preamp and a tube power amp. I'm using the CJ PF-R ss preamp and the CJ Premier 11a tube amp. I have tried CJ PV-14L, CJ PV-12, ARC LS16 tube preamps but prefer the solid-solid state preamp in my system.

I have used a variety of different Preamps and Recievers to control my ATI 2505 amplifier.It is amazing the difference in Sound Quality that can be heard from one Preamp or Reciever to the Next.I Finally Purchased the "Audio Experience-Symphonies" Preamp on Ebay for $375.00 plus shipping.It Uses "1 each 6X4 Power tube" and "3 each 12AX7 or 5751 tubes" It comes with the 12AX7 Tubes.I am using the "Symphonies" between my Denon AVR-2802 Dolby Digital Reciever Front-Left and Right Pre-outs and the ATI-2505 amps.I at first was amazed at the "Airiness" and the "Spaciousness" the Symphonies added to the sound and then the "Depth" and also the Excellent Immaging.The Instuments sound much more natural and vocals had depth and sound like the singers are in the room with me on many recordings.After about a week of listening I went back to using the Denon only.It was then that I Imediately Realized The benefits of using the Symphonies TUBE PRE.After about 15 minutes I hooked the Symphonies back in and hope I never have to use a solid state only setup again, although I will continue to use the Solid State Power Amps.WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT!!!
Dan Lombardy
Washington State

Tubes can be noisy buggers, and for this reason some people prefer keeping tubes away from the low-level signals originating from source components. This would favor those who support using a ss preamp and tube amp. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, just that it is one rationale for going one way over the other, and results will obviously vary from system to system and component to component. Like most things audio, this is one of those areas where you'll likely have to try some combos yourself to come to your own conclusions, but hey, isn't that half the fun? Best of luck.

Tim

If I'm not going all tube. (my preference) I like a tube DAC or Pre-amp or both in the front end. I use a tube DAC and pre with a Gamut solid state. It sounds much better than all solid state to the same amp. IMHO as others I'm sure feel differently