Tube Preamps

Yes, in general a tube preamp, or tubes somewhere in the chain will reduce brightness or glare. At least that has been my experience. Something else I do that tames my speakers is I cut some felt to place around the tweeter...so it sort of looks like a bagel with nothing touching the dome itself......I can't expalin why, but that helps eliminate some of the edge in my room....I don't have an extremely expensive set up, but it is comparable to yours. Good luck. The felt makes my system less aggresive without a significant side effect.

I don't mean to ask the obvious but if you like the sound of your NAD integrated why not stick with that or go foe NAD's separates?

Plato said, "Yes, flat response is the goal, but you probably wouldn't like it if you heard it anyway."

An audiophile paradox from the philosopher Plato.

So if the goal is a flat freq response, why then would it not be what we want.

Bob

Ya,stick with the NAD like Cmalak says..I second that.

I always thought the rotels had more grain and are bright..

A good tube integrated might be what you would like???

IMO,I think a lot of people cant name what there looking for in HIFI.

I think it's tone,the tone had to be right,not alot of hifi has good tone...

I have found tube amps to have superior tone by a mile.

With that said,the solid state amps that I found to have good tone are Accuphase,Forte 4,threshold,some early NAD's.
Arcams OK. I know there are more....

Quote:
"Isn't the amplifier just amplifying what it receives from the preamp?"

Yes,and some amps do it much much better than others.

I now run Quicksilver's,
American made, hand made, tube amps,mono blocks

they have outstanding tone(natuaral tone),low level detail,depth,musical up the yinyang.
The cost me a measily $800 off eBay too.
So,super duper sounds dont have to cost a small fortune...

Keep posting question and learning!!

Good luck!

I have hardwoods with a huge area rug centered in the room. I have thought about NAD separates, and may go that route. I'm just trying to research all my options. I can't afford to replace everything right now so I've made the decision to keep the Rotel slot loading CD player and the speakers. I found someone who would like to purchase my Rotel preamp so hopefully that's gone this week. I heard a Bryston B100SST yesterday and I really thought it sounded excellent, although a tad pricey for me right now. It does carry a 20 year warranty which blows my mind. I like the sound of NAD gear, but would really like to move up one notch. I thought the Bryston did a good job, and I'm wondering what else I should try to hear, even if it's tubes. I like that liquid sound, I don't mind colorization as opposed to up front and bright.