Tube Pre-amp beneficial?

I agree, tube pre will do what you want. Anthem may not. Anthem preamps are very good, but closer to SS sounding. I had the original CJ PV-10 (now 10a) for a while. It was great for the money.

Wsmatau, I would highly recommend a switch to tubes if you can spend the coin. I have Martin Logan ReQuests and was driving them with Hafler power amps and an Apt/Holman preamp. (High quality early 80's solid state). I bought a Conrad Johnson PV11 tube preamp and CJ premier 11a tube amp (used) from Audiogon/Audioweb members. A very big difference to my ears. The Logans really sing with the tube equipment. I have nothing but great things to say about Conrad Johnson gear. Listen for yourself!!

I had the same problems with a pair of Quest Zs. I run them with a Krell KAV250 amp & swapped An Adcom 565 for a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 & really noticed a positive improvement. I still would get a little too much top end brightness on some recordings so I replaced a Tara Labs Prime 1000 with a Cardas Quadlink 5c speaker cable & got a really nice sound.I have seen Line 1s advertised for around $1200 on this site. . The extra bucks are worth it because it is an excellent unit with a remote& easy connection to surround sound should you desire.

Thanks for the advice. Conrad Johnson seems to be the popular choice in my price range. Has anyone heard/ can you reccommend BAT pre-amps? A friend suggested the brand but it goes a little above my limit.

Hello Wsmatau: I use a BAT VK50SE. I took home numerous preamps including Rowland, Levinson, CJ, ARC REF1 and REF2. In the end the 50SE was THE one. Nothing else came close in it's price range. Yeah, expensive, and for me worth every penny. Do yourself a favor and try the VK5i, VK30 and 50SE before you buy anything else. System: BAT VK50SE preamp, BAT VKD5 tube CD player, Sony SCD777ES SACD player, Levinson 33H, Aerial 10t. Magic!