I agree w/ Darkmoebius. Upgrading your preamp will improve the sound of your whole system and put you in a better position to choose the right phono pre. Heck, after upgrading the preamp you might not even feel the need to upgrade the phono pre. If you've got a mixed HT/2ch system there are excellent stereo preamps with HT bypass that will integrate seamlessly into your system.
I used to use a Rotel pre/pro as my preamp and continued to use it for HT duties, but a good stereo pre really brought my system to an entirely different level. Benefits were across the board and included a much more natural, full, and dynamic sound, better tonality/timber, dramatic increase in overall size, width, and depth of soundstage, quieter background, much improved high frequencies and increased refinement across the board. Overall the sound just became much more real and involving. This is why I said after improving your preamp you may not feel the need to upgrade your phono stage right away.
In any event, hope this helped and best of luck.
I used to use a Rotel pre/pro as my preamp and continued to use it for HT duties, but a good stereo pre really brought my system to an entirely different level. Benefits were across the board and included a much more natural, full, and dynamic sound, better tonality/timber, dramatic increase in overall size, width, and depth of soundstage, quieter background, much improved high frequencies and increased refinement across the board. Overall the sound just became much more real and involving. This is why I said after improving your preamp you may not feel the need to upgrade your phono stage right away.
In any event, hope this helped and best of luck.