Dynaco7199 makes some valid points. The most important decision is to decide what it is that you like most in sound reproduction. Do you like the music to sound up front (horn loudspeakers), laid back (Vandersteen loudspeakers), quick and precise transients (the best solid state), warm, fat and bloomy (tubes like old Conrad Johnson, Marantz and Dynaco) timbral accuracy (single ended triodes are the best example), deep solid tight bass (solid state), or all of the above (that is what I want but haven't found it yet!) Tubes offer the wonderful full warm sound that so many of us love (2nd order harmonic distortion), it is more relaxing and involving to some and too bloated for others. Some like solid state for the quick transients and bass, I can't imagine any other reasons other than for low impedence loudspeaker loads, I'll look for another speaker thank you. I like some others think that you can get an old tube pre-amp and in the hands of a good tech who is familiar with circuits can come up with a unit that will compete with many of the mega buck units for a fraction of the cost. This you may not be ready to do but don't discard the idea. I have gone this route and wasn't sorry in the least for it. Conrad Johnson tube gear is very very good stuff (I owned a PV-7 pre-amp in the 80's and loved it) and the Company has been around for a while but before and if you decide to purchase Conrad Johnson in the event you don't want to go the mod route, you must also listen to Audio Research gear. This company has been in business for 30 years has a great tradition of service and in my estimation, offers the best of both tube and solid state and is and always has been to my ears at the cutting edge of music reproduction electronics. Good luck and enjoy the journey.
Please recommend Tube pre-amp(s)
I've listened to, and liked the Conrad Johnson PV 12 (a bit under $2,000) and really liked the Conrad Johnson Premier 14 ( $4,300?). However the Premier 14 is a lot of money, and we wouldn't even have listened to it except it has a remote control which my wife insists on, and then she fell in love with the higher quality sound of the Premier 14. I've listened to solid state gear from Rowland, Ayre, Classe and Krell none of which I liked although I thought the Rowland was incredibly precise, detailed [and lifeless.] The only other tube gear I listened to was the BAT preamp/amp combination which didn't do it either - I thought the sound was kind of dark and a bit dry emotionally. We felt that the CJ sound was very open, inviting and involving - we felt like part of the emotional experience of the music. I'm quite new at this and it seems like the preamp has a large effect on the overall character of the sound of the system, at least more so than the power amp. So far I have a Cal Audio CL 10 5 disk CD player and a Conrad Johnson DA-2b D to A converter plugged into my soon to be replaced old receiver and speakers. I have no plans for vinyl, so I'm looking for recommendations for line stages. What preamps can you recommend in the $2k to $4k price range with remote controls? The two dealers who had the CJ line said CJ has a distinctive sound - do you agree? If so, how would you characterize the sound from other amplification companies' equipment - like VAC, etc. etc.