tube options for driving paradigm studio 100s?


Hello,

I have recently discovered what vinyl sounds like on a good system and, when not kicking myself for all the years I've been listening to CDs when I could have been listening to vinyl, have been thinking about how I can get more analog sound. That has led me to explore the idea of using tubes. I have very limited experience with tubes, heard them at someone's house for just 15 minutes, but they made a real impact on me. Much like hearing good vinyl on a nice rig did

I have a pair of Paradigm Studio 100s and they take a lot of juice to light up. I listen mostly to rock & country from the 50s-70s and occasionally want to drive those speakers to high levels in my 14x21 room with an 8' ceiling.

I had thought I was going to settle on a combination of a Primaluna Prologue 3 tube preamp and a Bryston 4B-ST power amp. And I still may do that, but want to check with others before I do so.

With that in mind, I'm looking for suggestions on which way I may want to go with my preamp/amp/integrated options. Please keep in mind that I'll likely have a hard time driving my speakers with most tube integrateds, so I would like to confine myself to the choices listed below. I'll have up to $2500 to spend and would gladly buy used. Which of the following three ideas makes the best sense?

1. Buy a hybrid integrated.
2. Buy a tube pre and a solid state amp.
3. Buy a solid state integrated plus + tube phono stage + tube cd player (if I went this route, I would have another $500 to put towards this as I would be replacing my current CD player).

If the first option is something you would recommend, could you please recommend a hybrid integrated?

Input much appreciated!
dpsdennis
IMO, if you can't drive the speakers with tube amplification, then attempting to achieve that sound with tubes in the preamp or front end is an unsatisfactory substitute.

If you love the sound of speakers driven by tube amplification, then you'll be much happier in the long run by replacing your speakers with a model that works synergistically with tube amplification.