Which SS amps sound like a tube amp?


I'm doing research to find a new amp to replace my Parasound HCA 3500. I'd like the tubey midrange but the virtues of SS in the bass. Biamping is not an option as my rack is quite full. I need at least 200 wpc and want to spend less than 2k used. I'm driving VMPS Supertower/R SE's. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
warnerwh

Showing 2 responses by warnerwh

Thanks everyone for their help. I tried a little Cary AE 3 preamp and knew I was on the right track. Bought an Audio Research LS 16 pre and that was a bullseye, not too tubey and no ss nastiness like the Krell preamp. The Krell may be more detailed than the Cary at 1/10 it's price but certainly isn't as enjoyable to listen to. After thirty years I feel like I missed something just now getting into tube equipment. Went through 3 dacs trying to get to where I couldn't without the tubes in line. Many thanks.
Chad: The last amp I will put in my system is a Carver. I bought one of the TFM models just to toy with a few years ago. After it was in my system for a few minutes I had to get it out of there. Thin sounding with no imaging. Those are of the worst amplifiers I've ever heard. If anybody would have told me any amp could sound that bad I'd have not believed it. Fortunately for me there were a few people here that recommended a tube preamp. That was the key I had been looking for and that's the beauty of the vast knowledge we all can share here as it benefits us all. If you've not tried a tube pre in your system it's definitely worth a listen.