Shall I add a preamp to my setup?

Nope... I meant the VK5i.... NOT 51SE.

the 51SE is going to be very similar to the sound you presently have, albeit a bit richer. A friend of mine has one and he loves it, though he also has a 5i, and they are worlds apart sonically. The 5i having the more classic sound than that of the 51 or 51SE (both of which are preferable to the 50).

I've posted lots of threads on the vk5 i asking about it's sound, tubes for it, etc. check them out. Also there's got to be tons of posts on the 51SE too, as it's a very popular item.... both are strictly balanced topologies, and use xlr connections expressly... although the 51 series does have some RCA on it I believe. I used adapters on mine with fine effect.

Tehn there's that age old question of age... The VK 5i's run stopped back around 2000 or so. So even the last one BAT made is going to be over 6 or 8 years old.... but the build quality on them is superb. BAT says time and again they should last 20 years... and they're all self biasing, and for some, that's a big plus. With your budget, maybe the 51 is a better choice... if you go with BAT. Also their support is excellent, even with preowned gear.

I aimed all my comments on your sonic preffs. A Thor TA 1000 would definitely be a step in the right direction too, or even it's later sibling the MK II, (what I own), but didn't want to mention it as the only support for them since Mr. Marks flew the coop on his following so abruptly, will be via some local or well respected tech.

I mention this just to be quite frank on it all... the build of the Thors is top flight across the board. I've had not one issue with mine whatsoever aside from picking out which tubes to run in it. I've also seen some TA 1000 & MK II, lately for very good prices too. The only remote control feature is volume control however... and the balance control is defeated normally, and was offered as an option, along with HT pass through. 4 inputs. 1 line out. 1 active outs... and all RCA. 4 tubes. 2 12AT's, and 2 12AX's. Self biasing. Outboard power supply... extremely well damped and arguably the most unique physical esthetic of any make audio gear.

The MK II is the quicker of the models. Dynamic, fluid, harmonically natural and full. Great bass. super imaging. Big SS... wide and deep.

The MK IIs serial numbers began at 1000 & up. Previous to that were just the TA 1000. The TA 1000 is what I heard in person and also what made me want to get into an all tube array. It was by far the best sound I'd heard in nearly 30 years and that’s just my take. It is like a BAT VK5i on steroids. Lots of steroids.

The older CJ's, eg., 10, 9... are reputed to have even a more liquid midrange than the VK5i.

Hi Jim,

One thing pause me from buying a Tube pre, a guy just told me I will regret, tube pre will give me instant happiness for a while, after that, I will find there is lot of dynamic actually lost relative to a descent Solid state pre, unless I buy a very expensive one, otherwise tube is being limited on dynamics. $4k is not gonna make it there.

"What that guy just told you" is simply incorrect.

I know you don't want to hear this, but the harmonically "thin" thing is coming from the Thiels; crossover and tweeters; its a constant with Thiel. I know you are not going to move from them, but down the road, when you are still trying to balance out the thin thing with wire, amps, etc. you may want to remember this.

If I had $6k - and that is plenty of cash to do a lot - I would go with a Shindo Augieres. Its a line stage that has a nice MM phono when you decide, if you do, to step into the analog waters. With all due respect, I understand that the Io is a nice piece, but getting a new guy into all of those tubes is not really a good idea. The Shindo is fantastic (see Art Dudley's review in stereopile (no, not a typo...). You could build around it for a long time and if you ever wanted to sell it, you would hardly lose much and it would sell fast. Which is the tough part; you have to be patient for one. The avg $ on one these days is @3000. Which, of course, leaves you cash for some other stuff, which brings me to...

I know that no one asked, but if I was putting a system together for someone, I'd do the Shindo pre above ($3K), the Shindo Montille 25W EL84-based amp ($3K), Shindo or Kondo wire (@1K-1.5K if you are smart), maybe a Cambridge CD player, and Living Voice IBX-R2 speakers (@4K), and then a nice intro analog rig after that. You might never come up for air.

Just some ideas...

Grandetech, I have a similar setup with yours in pre/pro and amp. It is good for HT, but the 2-ch performance is not very good. So I got a BAT VK-3iX. The 2-ch sonic got much better. However, it lost some bass and dynamics.

I did some research and found that some tube pre-amps, including my BAT VK-3iX, have higher output impedance levels. So I upgraded my BAT with their Super-Pak and Six-Pak packages. Both dynamics and bass improved quite a lot.

Then I thought it was still lacking harmonics for vocal, piano, and violin. After some research, I found that 6922-based preamps don't have the harmonics that 6SN7-based preamps have.

Then I decided to get a dedicated 2-ch amp. So I got a Counterpoint NP100 with 6SN7 in the gain stage and transistors in the driver and output stages. I really like my setup now.

So my recommendation is as follows.

1. For the tube preamp, you want to make sure that it has a low output impedance to drive a SS amp. Most tube power amps have higher input impedance levels than SS amps. So if a tube preamp is designed for tube power amps, it may not be sufficient to drive a SS power amp.

2. If you want to keep your Sim Audio 5-ch amp for 2-ch music, I would get a 6SN7-based preamp.

3. I also think your speakers are a bit too dry.

Hope it helps.