Going to a less sensitive speakers, or an amplifier with lower input sensitivity will also decrease the apparent tube noise--as will finding very low-noise tubes. Also, there are a few tube preamps on the market that are almost as quiet as solid state--I have a custom made piece using 6SN7 tubes that is very quiet--significantly quieter than most tube preamps. My speakers are quite efficient at 94 dB/watt, so I had to find a lower noise piece. Some tube preamps I tried were surprisingly noisy. Good Luck!
Beating the Tube Rush
The tube rush from my preamp is more than I want. For most kinds of music I listen to, it remains unnoticable. However, thanks to a recent classical buying spree, and although the dynamics are stunning, during the otherwise quite spots the tube rush can be noticeable and annoying. I retubed the pre (VLT 2.5) 3-4 months ago with Mullard NOS--and that was a significant improvement across the boards--but after a few months the tube rush had crept back up to noticiable levels from my listening position (which may very well not be as far away as it should be, but I'm stuck with it for the time being). Does anyone have any great tricks or hints for beating this, or it is just the nature of the beast? (Yes, could go solid state, but I'm pretty addicted to the sound, so is there anything less drastic?). Many thanks.