Best Preamp under 10K

I wish I had known this before I made my investments.... Rowland has the concentra integrated amp for about $5600. This is a steal, because it houses the last 20 years of his experience into one box. The amp alone in the box would retail for over 10, so you're getting the synergy pre-amp plus the amp(what he is known for) for less than 6. Simply outrageous.... Others to look at: for home theatre or 5 - 7 channel systems, Lexicon MC-1 can be had for $3800 (on ebay) - $6000(new). Simply rocks for home theatre. I have been told the proceed handles music much better, and does very well for home theatre - but you would have to investigate. The real questions are: What kind of system do you have, and/or what are you looking at? What exactly is it you want out of your system? That makes all the difference. My advice comes from countless hours trying to find a high end blend of home theatre and stereo with electrostatic speakers, and plasma TV. Someone looking for a pure stereo system would have much different advice. Or are you simply taking a pole? All the best - Echotalk

I heard many preamps and owned a few. I now have the Mark Levinson 380S and agree, they are the best!

Get some modern design tubes going. Space....liquidity.....full imagery... not cardboard cut-outs. My vote is a very obscure Encore Electronics DL2010.2 Can be found occasionally!!! for $1300 used. Killer!!! If you can't afford a Cat, this is it.

Listen to Lamm L1. Then compare it to the best Mark Levinson, Krell, Audio Research, etc. including the CAT. I promise you will be amazed how much better Lamm is.

Atma-sphere tube MP-1. Most musical.