Need help picking a preamp.

Eastern Electric Mini-Max. No comparison.

Mapletree tube preamp is awesome little bugger for the money.
Around $800 new.
It will serve you for many,many years and it is a pleasure to listen to.
I know few guys who own this preamp with systems FAR more expensive then yours. Juicy Music Peachtree is also great preamp if you can find it used in your budget. Integrated amp is another option which you can consider.
It might be a little over your budget tho. There is one you might really like up for sell at great price. The seller won't ship but it doesn't hurt to ask - DK Design vs 1 mk ii Integrated amp.

Oh yeah........everything will change the sound.
Speakers and amp is a good starting point and the most important factor to successful system.

Cheers
Mariusz

How much more of a increase in $'s would I have to have to hear a difference. Would I also need a new amp, if so, how much more of an amp?

If a tube pre-amp piques your interest, Juicy Music pre-amps are also highly regarded by many and often come up for sale here for under $1000. These were on my recent short list as well.

There's a TAD 150 signature posted here for $700 - which is a good price on a great tube preamp. I don't know the seller, but own one myself.

Classe is an excellent way to go. I'd agree with Almarg.

A Musical Fidelity A3CR pre-amp used would be another good option close to that range particularly if phono is desired.

Those are the ones in that price range I actually considered recently. I ended splurging for an Audio Research sp16 tube pre-amp that cost a good bit more in the end.

I've had many. My ultimate is an MFA Magus. More reasonable is an Anthem TLP for solid state or AR 6C for tubed. They both beat my Classe 30 hands down. The Anthem has a built in tuner, the AR a phono pre. Probably $550 and $800 respectively.

There are several 1990's or early 2000's Classe preamps that you can get used, in those price ranges, assuming you don't need a phono stage (I can't tell for sure whether or not you do based on a quick look at your component list). It may be possible to find one in that price range that has a phono stage, as well. Do a search for "Classe" at Audiogon under solid state preamps, and you'll probably find several available. They are reputed (rightfully, imo) to have a tubelike sound while having the advantages of being solid state. Their service and customer support is also reputed to be top notch.

Regards,
-- Al