Sound quality impact - preamp vs power amp?

@jaulbrich -- Your post made me laugh because it was such a compact and insightful compendium of (to modify the old jazz standard title) "All the Things We Are." I also laughed because there is this constant forgetting about what the hobby is about (in other words, that it can be about so *many* things, none superior to the others). And none of us think or say, "Someone who knows about main courses really knows about 'food' but a baker or a wine maker doesn't." No, we say, they *all* know about food. So, there is something weird that happens (sometimes) in this hobby when people want to collapse the different purposes at work into a single end, and then argue about that end. 

Preamp gets the nod, as regardless of the amp the sound quality can be no better than what the preamp feeds it.

Yes, a high sound quality amp can sound better with the same preamp, however, that is a result of the the lower sound quality amp NOT achieving the sound quality feed to it from the preamp.  

Cost wise, a match of preamp & amp sound quality will result in the best sound quality for the BUCK. 

Tubed or solid state.  A great tubed pre- is going to be expensive, but you can pair it with a relatively inexpensive ss power amp and get amazing results.  

If you're going ss, then the world is your oyster.  I think you can find good ss pre's for not too much money.  An example would be the Wyred4Sound STP pre new or a used Tom Evans Vibe/Pulse (my current pre which I've got mated to a relatively inexpensive tube amp) And then you can find great ss or tubed amps for not too much $.  

I had an EAR 834 mated to a First Watt J2 and it was one of the better combos I've had.  My best combo was the Vibe/Pulse and a Berning 300B Siegfried.  The biggest regret of my audiophile career was selling my Siegfried to a good friend.  One of the few pieces I've had that actually appreciated in value.  

Meant to say EAR 868.