Best sounding preamp under 2K?

Give the Blue Circle preamps a listen. Either new, or a more upmarket used unit. I LOVE them. They do not use 6922s. My friend had two he auditioned for me a while back. They impart a great tube sound, while being quite detailed and extended. Not sure about remote(probably not). If I was buying a tube preamp, it would be either a Blue Circle or a Jadis(a little out of your price range, and no remote). I could live with either for a long, long time.

For solid state, I recommend trying to find a used Pass Aleph P. The newer versions have remote. They're built very well and extremely transparent. There are also used Joule LA100s and Audible Illusions (and they would probably be less than $1000 used).

Blue Circle's neither have remote or are balanced. AI's fall into the same category. I haven't considered SS since I don't know of anything that will sound as good as the VK-5i in the price range.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks. -Rolf

Rolf: I was going to nominate the Rogue 99, but I don't believe it offers balanced, although I'm not sure. I know my 66 does not. Otherwise, it is a phenomenal value with phono, remote and headphone. Mike

rolf, my recommendation uses 4 6922's, but i still recommend it - i *love* mine! :>) the melos music director or ma333 (the ma333, the earlier version, doesn't have the same caps, but it *does* have the photentiometer volume control, which i think is better, but can be easily misaligned during shipping - it's *very* sensitive...) this pre has remote volume/balance controls, and was offered w/balanced ins/outs, but it was an option, so not all units may have it.

prior to getting the melos, i tried the "magnum"-updated rogue 99 (remote volume, not balanced, no tape monitor function), & the cary slp98 (remote awailable, don't think balanced is an option). the cary was better than the rogue, but the melos is in another league entirely.