I've never had the Arcam or Krell in my system. I have owned many prepros including Lexicon, Citation, Parasound, Outlaw, Sherwood and a couple of tube/solid-state preamps. Among the prepros, the Aragon Soundstage (~1100 used) and Aragon Stage One (~2k used) are the best performers for movies and 2 channel music (besting some 2 channel preamps), as they are both based on Aragon's top of the line Aurum preamp. At the current discounted pricing, these two prepros are great buys!