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Solid state with tube pre amp?

T

Taylor S

New Member
hello everyone, I'm hoping I can find some insight here. I am selling my Yamaha ca-610 II amplifier and have had a couple of trade offers. First one is a technics SA-5600XC plus cash on his end. The second offer is an audio note m zero tube pre amp. I've never owned anything tubed before but I am quite turned on by the idea. My question is; can I run a tube pre amp on a ss amp? Ss would be either marantz 4240 or realistic sta 2500. Speakers would be realistic mach 2 or possibly realistic Optimus t120/Optimus 70. Would it sound good? I mainly listen to my turntable (technics sl 220) or aux to my tablet with occasional cd's in there too.
Any insight would be appreciated
Also not completely sure I want to part with my Yamaha.
 
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Taylor S said:
My question is; can I run a tube pre amp on a ss amp?
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Yup, sure can! It's done all the time providing that any of the mentioned amplifiers are actually straight power amps only.

The tube preamp would also work going into an integrated amps aux or tape inputs but this hook up would put another preamp in the chain of an already existing preamp and there would be a possibility of drive overload, high noise floor and such so that's not what we like to do around here. :eek:
 
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Preamps are meant to be used with power amplifiers. The only way that you could really use it with the receivers you mentioned would be if they have "main-in" jacks, where you can feed the preamp directly into the amp section of the receiver and basically just use it as a dedicated power amplifier.
 
Taylor S said:
hello everyone, I'm hoping I can find some insight here. I am selling my Yamaha ca-610 II amplifier and have had a couple of trade offers. First one is a technics SA-5600XC plus cash on his end. The second offer is an audio note m zero tube pre amp. I've never owned anything tubed before but I am quite turned on by the idea. My question is; can I run a tube pre amp on a ss amp? Ss would be either marantz 4240 or realistic sta 2500. Speakers would be realistic mach 2 or possibly realistic Optimus t120/Optimus 70. Would it sound good? I mainly listen to my turntable (technics sl 220) or aux to my tablet with occasional cd's in there too.
Any insight would be appreciated
Also not completely sure I want to part with my Yamaha.
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There is nothing prevents you from doing that. But my opinion is that reverse thing is better: solid state preamp with tube power amplifier.
 
No problem at all and you may wind up getting hooked on tubes and get a tube power amplifier down the road.
 
I think the pre has the final say if the amp is worth its salt be it tubes or ss gotta have the source that fits your ear and audio preference type. For me ss offers tons of input sources so if I were mixing it up it would be a ss into tube amp mix.
 
There are also some integrateds combining tube pre with SS power sections. Rogue and Peachtree are a couple sources.
 
in reverse.
i run a tube amp on a ss preamp all the time. works for me.
HK CIT11/Dynaco st35.
sounds great.
 
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Looks like you can connect the Audio note output to the Marantz's Main in. Connect the phone to the Marantz and tape out to the Audio Note Tape In. Connect digital sources to the Audio Note. Should be interesting.
 
Ive had good luck with tube preamps and SS amps. A good SS power amp should be clear and neutral. Just amplifying whats fed into it without adding any color of its own.
 
I am a strong supporter of a tube preamplifier and SS amplifier. Depending on the speakers, a tube amp is great but the cost and heat associated with output tubes is something that I've learned to avoid.
 
I first chose that route in 1981 when I paired an Audio Research SP6 with a Threshold Stasis III.

As really good tube amps are expensive, I think that approach provides the most bang-for-buck.
 
stoutblock said:
I am a strong supporter of a tube preamplifier and SS amplifier. Depending on the speakers, a tube amp is great but the cost and heat associated with output tubes is something that I've learned to avoid.
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My SS amp idles with the heatsinks at 60C (140F) and doubles as a room warmer. Good in winter, not so good in summer - but that's what AC is for.
 
interalian said:
My SS amp idles with the heatsinks at 60C (140F) and doubles as a room warmer. Good in winter, not so good in summer - but that's what AC is for.
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But not when you're listening, right? There were several rooms at RMAF where they had to, or chose to run the room AC. It was incongruous, listening to $100K equipment with 100 dB S/N reduced to 30 or 40 dB above the constant whoosh.
 
sqlsavior said:
But not when you're listening, right? There were several rooms at RMAF where they had to, or chose to run the room AC. It was incongruous, listening to $100K equipment with 100 dB S/N reduced to 30 or 40 dB above the constant whoosh.
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We have a 2600' two storey house with two forced-air furnaces. The large furnace heats the main floor and basement, and the AC is on the second storey where the bedrooms are. As heat rises, the upstairs heats and the AC comes on up there. The main rig is on the main floor and I can't hear the upstairs blowers when the AC is on, even if the stereo is off. So I've got that going for me... which is nice.
 
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