Best Preamp New or Used up to $3,000 ??

The AVA Fet Valve CFR Hybrid is very nice also at $2500 with phono and $300 less without. 

Forgot the Atma-sphere UV1 

A lot of good suggestions above. One thing, where you said this...

Separate quality Power supply, Dual Mono setup, Quality components. Remotes (except EAR)

Are you saying you want reco’s with these attributes? Would we assume no Phono ever? For now I’ll ussume not.

As always, system synergy, and matching the owners musical priorities are key. Nothing I can say should get in the way your experimenting and finding your own way.

Not mentioned thus far:

Wyetech
Supratek
MFA Lumi 
VTL
ASL Flora
Coincident CLS

Some of the above could have Phono included in them. A few, depending on where in a manufacturers lineup they are may be within the budget, where other might stretch it slightly.

if you’ve got some fun money to try something out, buy it used, live with it and see it make you heart sing. If not keep changing it up until you can pinpoint the one. I owned 4 of the above plus a Modwright and a Audio Research. All have there strengths and weaknesses. My journey found that my ear really seamed to prefer 6SN7 based Pre’s more than the others. I found what works for me. I hope you can find your utopia. While you might find inspiration here on the boards, nothing will better in home evaluations first hand. Good luck with the journey!

Music I enjoy: Vocals, 70 db, Near field position.  I am attracted to these brands as they seem to place value on things related to musicality.

Really?  This is what we've got to go on?  How about making a little effort in describing more about what type of sonic improvements you're looking for and/or what aspects of sound reproduction are most important to you?  You'll just get potshots and personal preferences here until you get more specific about what you're really looking for. 

As the fabled "perfect" preamp "sound like a piece of wire" adding or detracting nothing which is what your doing now by going direct.

The problem with a straight wire is that many sources don't really provide an adequate means of controlling the artifacts of the interconnect cable and often have substandard means of controlling volume (the Oppo is a good example of the latter). A passive control is **not** a simple bit of wire- the effect of the control can be to reduce the efficacy of the output coupling capacitor of the source while at the same time effectively increasing the apparent output impedance of the source, thus reducing bass impact. Reducing impact is the most common complaint we hear about passive volume control systems.