Another vote for PrimaLuna Jeff. I bought a used DiaLogue HP a couple years back. This amp has really grown on me over time. It has beautiful tone--full color saturation if you follow. It is smooth, neutral, and begs you to listen for hours on end. I could go on. A couple of points. Regarding the comment to not buy Chinese--rubbish! The build quality on this unit is among the best and far superior to many American built brands. It is silent with NO operational quirks--very well thought out. So if you choose to not buy Chinese for political reasons, that's fine. But not for quality reasons. Secondly, in your quest for tubes, the amp/speaker interface is critical (more so than solid state). The HP has a lower output impedance and will be more forgiving in this regard but my VS VR-33's have a very simple first order crossover and get along great with tubes. I would never advise "force fitting" of this pairing.
beginner seperate system
all the listening I do leads to crazy high prices. anyone out there that can do great high fi on a couple grand budget? I have nad 275bee bridged mono with focal aria 948. I would like to experiment with maybe a tube setup or a really reverby ss if exists. I have a couple rythmik 15 in subs that can do bass. have a few headphone systems that really have opened my eyes on sound. can hifi wonky/tubes be done with subs? and lowest entry point worth the money? would be great to find something under 5k that can play well with aria speakers.