Tube preamp question

I have never used a Lexicon but I am "thinking" that the analog pass-thru feature MAY indicate that those inputs do not route the signal to the digital signal processing section or DACs in the Lexicon. But I "think" it might route the signal thru the volume attenuator so you would have two attenuators in the circuit, generally not considered a good idea. But I'd read your manual on the Lexicon carefully and perhaps even talk to customer service to make sure.

I don't know if Cary has balanced outputs but you already know you like the sound so that is logical. The other plus about Cary is that most of their preamps use 6SN7 tubes extensively. These tubes are readily available as Old Stock even true NOS. You can roll the tubes until you get the sound you want.
I don't know if Conrad Johnson preamps have balanced circuits but many of their older preamps have that warm sound you seem to be hankering for.

Great info guys. I've read up a bit on all of your suggestions and this seems like a very good way to go and best of both worlds as i can use my existing amps/speakers with my current preamp.
some current audiogon tube preamps in the my general price range are:
BAT vk5i (all balanced)
modwright ls100 (nice to have unbalanced and balanced inputs and outputs)
doge audio 8 (has a balanced out, all inputs are unbalanced which is fine)

I've also looked up cary and it seems the slp-03 has the options i need

after careful consideration to all of the great input i received (i can't thank you all enough) the necessary points of emphasis are a tube preamp with balanced outs (having one set of balanced inputs and outputs, the rest can be unbalanced), a HT passthrough (id prefer if this feature can be used while unit is off), which will mate nicely with spectron musician ii monos and anthony gallo ref 3.1 speakers.

Mechans: i did love the Cary products (as well as mccormack and conrad johnson) when i heard them a while back but i haven't heard any of the newer models. I have recently heard a few newer model (rogue, prima luna integrated) and i did not hear that tube sound i remembered from listening to the older model cary, CJ,etc). i thought they sounded wonderful but if i closed my eyes i would have not been able to tell they were tubes. i am not sure if this was because those models sounded bright or simply this is how newer tube models sound. What i loved on my listening session a few years back was the fact that at low volume i could almost feel the breath of Gilmore and the sound of his fingers sliding up and down on the frets on the "wish you were here" track. It sounded like i was sitting front row at a very small venue rather than hearing the sounds from large speakers at a stadium.

I would remove the modwright as many say it has a detailed SS sound.
Cary slp-03, cary 2002, bat vk5i and bat vk30 all seem to be possibilities in my price range. I've heard mixed reviews about noise on the doge model.

Well the difference is that the BAT is a fully differential design, whereas the Cary only has balanced inputs and outputs. What this means is that Cary is not a truly balanced design, you could use any single ended preamp design with RCA to XLR adapters and have the same results.

Now this has nothing to do with sonics at all. I have owned a few BAT preamps, and I am currently using a Cary SLP-98P preamp. Yes the balanced BAT preamps were a bit quieter, but I prefer the musicality of the 6SN7 tubes in the Cary over the BAT 6H30 tubes. You pays yer money, you makes yer choices.