Audio Research SP3-a1

 That does seem excessive. It has only cost a few hundred dollars both times I sent pieces to ARC. I agree, would put it in the closet. For that kind of money you can get a much better preamp.  The LS2 and LS2 mk2 would not be on my list. I had a LS2B mk2 for a few years in the late 1990's. It was good in it's day but never great.

@lostbears I heard its greatness. Probably your partnering equipment causing the shortcoming.

Thanks for everybody's feedback, I really love my old SP !

ARC began to worship larger wallets. Your's no good for them. It's OK to send them to go F themselves I guess. Has anyone done that yet?

I know someone who got an old unit upgraded and modified to some "C" specification, which apparently makes it sound more modern. I can check who did the work but doubt it will be much cheaper. I had a new one back in the day- it was a revelation, but that was in the mid-’70s. I suspect it sounds pretty old school tube by today’s standards, but it’s a classic. I eventually "upgraded" to an SP-10 mk ii which was glorious in its day, but man, talk about microphony problems. Bill Thalmann runs a very good shop in Virginia- I’d also trust him with the unit. Perhaps worth a call though chances are, he won’t be able to give you a precise estimate until he opens it up.
PS: i dug back and found the references to my friend's unit. He had Joe Curcio do the work. I gather than the unit can be repaired by Curcio without doing extensive mods but you'd probably have to call him to get a range of prices.
good luck-