So I was daydreaming about what kind of secondary system I'd like to have after my main stereo reaches a point that resembles completeness, and I kept thinking about tubes. Then I started to think about the possibility of sharing room + equipment with this secondary system to save on buying more components and have quick access to either one, depending on mood/source material. If possible (and plausible), it would be a separate tubed power amp with its own set of speakers better suited for SET's. The tubes would be fed straight from the main systems solid state pre-amp or ICBM. If I could get the ICBM involved then that brings the subwoofer online and takes some load off of the tube amp.
Basically, I'd be trying to fit the tubes + speakers into a set up like this:
Source(s)
|
SS Pre-Amp
|
ICBM > Sub
|
SS Power Amp
|
Main Speakers
The questions:
1. Is it ok to use a solid state pre-amp with a tube amp? I don't know much about impedance matching, but it seems like it might be relevant here. I know that lots of people use tube pre-amps with ss power amps, but not sure if it works so well the other way around.
2. If it is ok, would I get the desired "tube sound" from such a set up?
3. Would there be a way to avoid doing a cable switch each time I want to listen to the tubes?
4. Am I making any sense at all?
Thanks for any help.
Jon
