Tubes plus SS


Much has been written on tubes vs. solid state.
However, I have heard some very nice things from
systems with solid state amps and tube preamps.
Has anyone had similar experience? Any recommendations
on pairing solid state and tubes in this way?
judit

Showing 1 response by couldbe

I have had a wild hair for a tube pre-amp for quite some time. The deal was closed when I went to a pawn shop and found an Audio Research LS15 for $600!! I have to order a remote for the unit, otherwise it is in perfect condtion. I am using a Aragon 4004MKII(hopefully I can get my hands on an 8008BB because it has balanced inputs)and the two have mated up very nicely. The soundstage is tremendous(it extends way beyond the speakers)detailing(guitar picks on the strings, pianos sound like pianos, a thumping noise that I never heard before on one of my discs-a foot pushing on the pedal of the piano), bass has great slam due to the Aragon. The voices, especially female, are smooth, silky and life-like. Prior to the Audio Research, I was using a Jeff Rowland Consonance which is also a great pre-amp. Aragon is made by the folks at Mondial, which has its fingers in Mark Levinson and Proceed products, thus the great sound and bullet-proof amps! The combination of solid state and tube pre-amps make for a good marriage.