I upgraded from Conrad Johnson, Sonagraph (solid state) to CJ pv10a which is Conrads bottom dollar tube pre-amp and it gave a much warmer sound. I am running it to a Proceed hpa2 and Martin Logam Aerius i. Brand new I think they go for about $1200 you should be able to find a used one for around 600. This pre-amp is not remote controlled, from what I have seen you have to spend WAY more to get this kind of sound and a remote controlled unit. As soon as I heard it I forgot all about not having a remote.
Tube Pre-amp beneficial?
Will a tube pre-amp "warm-up" my Martin Logan SL-3s if I am running a SS amp (Sunfire)? Or, do I need tubes throughout? I am currently using an Adcom GFP-565 in bypass mode, and I would like to upgrade the pre (staying under $1000) and add a remote, any recommendations from people with similar equipment would be appreciated.