Best preamp under 5k for Krell amp

Not to be difficult, but sell the Krell and reorganize your budget. You will get much better results. Martin Logans work well with Audio Research and Jadis amps in my experience. With Krell, you will need to wear SPF 45 when you listen.

Margaux, thanks for your response. Actually, I really like the Krell and would rather build around it. How about a speaker and preamp upgrade suggestion.

I have a Krell KSL pure class A line stage pre-amp that I know would sound fabulous. I used it with Apogees. Mine costs only $1100 ($2900 new). Seems like you want to spend more however.

I have a krell krs-2 (3-piece) unit that's currently at krell for servicing that I'm going to sell as soon as I get it back. The krs-2 works well with ksa-80b and the fpb-200. I'm currently using a KRC-2 / FPB200 with the B&W 801s and am very happy with the match.