For tube sound, which is more important: preamp or power amp?


I have always loved the “tube sound” - warmth, midrange, soundstage. Through the years (since about 1975), I have owned many tube and solid state amps and preamps, in various combinations. Presently, I have a tube amp and a solid state preamp. But like most of you, I am thinking of making changes, again.  Not to cloud the discussion, the specific brands are not important.  I also listen to acoustic music, females vocals, love mini monitors, EL34s, NOS tubes, and don’t care that much about bass.  So you can see that my taste fits the tube sound very well. But I have had systems that are too warm, not enough dynamics or details, and fat in the low end, too.

okay, now to the discussion.  To produce the tube sound, which is more important: the preamp or the power amp?  Let’s talk in general, and (if possible? May not be) not tied to one specific piece/brand/model of equipment.  I know there are exceptions to any general rule.  Not sure if it makes a difference to your comments, but I have no phono and am running line stage only.

As an attempt to prevent the conversation as going in a big tangent, let’s assume equality of price/quality. i.e. not comparing a $10k power amps contribution to a system to that of a $1k preamp.  Let’s also assume that the amp (tube or solid state) can drive the speakers just fine, such that compatibility does not limit the decision. And ignore mono blocks versus stereo amp differences.  

two follow ons: I have  the perception that preamps give you more bang for the buck - meaning that it takes less money to get a great tube preamp compared to a great tube amp.  Agree/disagree? And second, I have never owned a tube dac or CD player, and will assume that tubes in either of these is less critical than in a preamp or power amp. Agree/disagree?

i am interested in your thoughts.

Bill
meiatflask
I'm currently using a transistor preamp and a tube amp. Generally, that's my preference. I've built well over 300 hand crafted tube amps and to me, the amp makes more of a difference. There are no absolutes, such as "It's better this way than that" as I see here. I have no issues telling great differences between amps using the SS preamp that I settled on. I can very much hear all the things I want to hear using a tube amp that way. JGH used to say that the two most important interfaces were amp/speaker and cartridge/tonearm. That was some time ago but that doesn't mean a lot has changed .
I picked up a custom made 'Erhard Audio" tube pre-amp.  (formerly 'tube nirvana').  I dont think I will ever change from it.  They will make it exactly to your specifications.  The sound is PURE and it makes such a difference.  I am one of the believers that you need the front (pre-amp) to be able to show your amp how to play it :)
There are some good hybrid integrated amps out there.  Does anyone know of any that are SS pre- and tube power?  I've only seen tube pre- and SS power...
I also agree with ( keithr )  that tube amps provide more of the magic of tubes used with a solid state preamp, but if you want even more magic use a tube amp with a tube preamp of course.
I listen to a lot of red book quality streaming so I went with a tube pre, a DAC that had reviewed characteristics of "warm" and a modern class D implementation Amp.  I am pretty happy so far.