Help! Receiver or preamp? Im overwhelmed...

I'm a big fan of Yamaha AVRs. I've posted this before that Pioneer home electronics was bought by Onkyo and then Amazon and Best Buy discontinued sales of Onkyo products in 2020. Marantz and Denon were bought by Sound United in 2017. Usually, but not always, when this happens companies are looking to use the names of the companies only and they often look for ways to keep prices the same but use lesser components. Again, this doesn't always happen but it frequently does. I'm not saying it happened in either of these cases, but you can proceed at your own risk. Yamaha on the other hand, continues to make their own AVR equipment and typically has the best reliability ratings of any audio equipment manufacturer. 

@Winnardt, This is a valid point, especially understanding the corporate world. I don't doubt the audio world would be immune either. Actually, as subjective as audio is, it's probably ripe for the corporate picking. Just as an example, I called Marantz to ask a question today, and after receiving the callback, the individual from pre-sales team whom should be armed to the teeth with the knowledge to sell the products had less knowledge and understanding than I... whos been out of the hobby for 10 years, If that tells you anything. 

Some great responses. I’m watching with interest because I am going through pretty much the exact same ordeal but with different equipment.
I’m leaning towards Anthem Pre/Pro to go along with my Aragon amps.
There are some used Anthem products online if you hunt around. A lot of audio dealers sell products on eBay. Now that Anthem brought out new models I’ve been looking for a used AVM 60. The AVM 50’s are nice units also and closer to your price range. I probably wouldn’t go any older than that though.
Good luck!

Compare Anthem with Marantz, et. Al...

for me, room correction is very important.  I am not sure where Marantz, Denon, Rotel are with RC.  I would compare Anthem with Yamaha, and I already stated why I had a preference for Anthem