I like my tubes in the phono stage, as I believe cracks & pops behave a bit differently going through a tubed stage as opposed to a solid state stage.
Solid State amps with tube preamps
I'm sure this topic has been discussed in great detail but I'd like to hear some voices chime in on my specific dilemma. I have a pair of martin logan spires powered by tube amps. I really love the sound but am really enticed to try out full range stats for awhile. I think I would want to switch to solid state on the amp end but I am afraid of what that could do. Since they have different strengths I worry that the tube preamp signal won't work to the strong suits of the solid state amps. My preamp is a steelhead run as a full preamp. I listen almost exclusively to vinyl, lots of rock, electronic and jazz so I'm trying to put something well rounded together. Has anyone done something similar?