Baby Steps back to Tubes.


I have been thinking of doing this for a while now so I descided to go back to tubes gradually. I just bought a cary sl98p . I would like some recommendations for solid state amps that work well with this pre. For speakers I have NHT 3.3's so obviously, well to me anyway I would require at least 150 watts a side preferably more and high current. I am using a Musical Fidelity Tri Vista 300 integrated now and listen to more vynil than cd,s and have a Graham slee Reflex era gold for the phono end of it with a Michel Gyro SE mk II , Rega Exact II MM . Digital is an Esoteric DV 50S .I Primarily listen to rock and blues mostly 60's and 70's era.The room is 15 by 27 with 9 ft ceilings. I got away from tubes back in the late seventies when I first got married and now single and happy again thought I would give it a try again (the tubes that is!). Your experiences are much appreciated. Cheers!
has2be
Consider also the Odyssey Line, Symphonic's "little brother". Many of the same parts as Symphonic. Huge bang for the buck. Their Stratos or Khartago amps can be had for ~$1k and up. Buy direct with a 30 day no questions, no re-stock fee policy. Or buy used for less here. Interesting write up about the Khartago in this month's Absolute Sound.
$3500 will buy a used Moscode 401HR hybrid amp. In my system, the Moscode drove Von Schweikert VR4 Gen III HSE very, very well. The VR4 Gen III HSE speakers had a pretty diverse impedance curve dipping down to about 3.5 ohms. Therefore, I would think the Moscode would drive your NHT 3.3 quite well.

The 401HR allows tailoring of its sound through rolling small signal tubes. It's a terrific sounding, fun amplifier that's worth investigating.

However, if you're seriously contemplating making a speaker change, then I wouldn't make an amp change until you make the speaker change because you could find yourself reworking your amp choice yet again.
Thanks Guys for all the good ideas and products to do some looking into. Tvad, good advice on the speaker part and possibly reworking the amp yet again. I,m trying to avoid that and I will look into the Moscode. Thanks again guys! Cheers