Can I swap my tube separates for your wife? No offence intended but I am jealous. You would certainly get an improvement over the Anthem with BAT or Sonic Frontier separates, but these days (assuming you do not use vinyl) a US$5,000 tube integrated, as DelveAudio suggests, is probably the best use of your money. But when you do, you should really try the Plinius 8150 (this is me being patriotic) - it does not have tubes, but has a tube-like warmth in the midrange that you may well like. Coupled with plenty of power and remote control it just might appeal. As to separates :- The Line 1 sounds nice with Amperex tubes in it (the stock Sovteks sound thin and zippy to me), would look nice together with your SFCD1, and can be gotten fairly readily for around US$1,300 second hand. But I was never too keen on SF power amps and would suggest looking at VTL or VAC.
Do I really need separates?
Currently the main system is a Anthem Integrated 2 fed by a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 through XLO ref. Speakers are Near 50meII. Cables MIT MH-750 bi-wires. Would I really hear a difference if I replaced the integrated with tube separates from BAT or Sonic Frontiers. Also, will a 50 watt tube amp push as much current as a solid state amp. My wife has suddenly got the audiophile bug worse than me. She really wants tubes (I guess I do to) but we also want to hear an improvement over the current rig. The cd-player we both love as well as the speakers. I guess we are a little confused. What happened to the good old days when I didn't even have the money to consider all this. Or max price point for making the switch is about 5k. please can someone help?