Pre amp replacement?? Help

The Sony is 15 years old.  DACs have come a long way.  If you use this for theater, you really need 3 matching front speakers.  The Mirage or HPM can be saved for rears.  Your Carver could work fine depending on the speakers.  Also many pre-pro's won't have phono built in.
1-what is your budget
2-what will you use most theater or 2 channel?

If you aren't using it for theater there is a lot wasted in the pre-pro.  A dedicated 2 channel pre would be an improvement.  I'm guessing that since your table isn't really working that you either use radio or digital?  If you need a tuner then look at a nice receiver with pre-amp outputs for future upgrades?  If you use a digital source then a pre-amp with a nice dac would do wonders.  A peachtree or similar would be nice and clean.  That's your first $500 (less what you sell the sony for).
Next would be a cartridge.  You don't need to spend a fortune.  Lot's of choices in the range of a Shure m97 that will get vinyl going.  Check out needle doctor.  
That's where I'd start, I think

Just image the compromises when building a $1000 pre-pro.  Now take that same budget to build a pure preamp.  I'm not knocking Sony ES.  They are nice.  You will be better served with a 2 channel system.

$2k is probably overkill when looking at the rest of your system.  I'm not trying to "knock" what you have, just keeping things balanced.
You can get a heck of a lot of preamp for $1000 to $1500.  Make sure it has a phono pre built in.  Other things you need to consider are remote control and digital inputs.
Although old school, the Pioneers are legendary.  I think that if you split the budget between a pre and a power amp you might get more bang for your budget.  If you are not using the Carver for multi channel, sell it and add that to your budget.  I'm not sure on the sound of the Mirage.
FYI:  I'm not a fan of Carver, sorry but that does sway my opinion.  I would prefer 36 tube watts over 360 bridged Carver watts.