Best tube preamplifier for under $15k

Exemplar audio XP-2 (15 K) , in view of most, who have heard this preammp, is as good as most preamps up to 35 K. It has vishay naked resistors & Urushi capacitors. I compared it to the stock Wavac PRT1 & it definitely to my ears was overall more musical & better . I still have PRT1 , but modified all resistors to Audio Note Tantalum silver resistors & Electrolytic caps to Audio Note Kesai. ( No Other Caps to change) , Only then the PRT1 sounds superior.
I compared Exemplar XP-2 n my previous life, to CJ ACT 2 & preferred the XP-2
I improved XP-2 further by bypass Audio Note Silver caps
The rest of my system;
Speakers Giya 2, Power Amps; Audio-Music 833 MKII, Silver Ultima Mono blocks, Audio-Music 833 MKII, Silve editin Monblocks, Jadis JA80 25th Anniversay, Lamm 2.2 .
T/T; Roy Borgess / Kuzma 14 inch . Technics SL1000 with 3 tonearms ( the other 2 tonearms ; Axiom & SME5) . cartridges include Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement.
I mention the above system , to assure, who is reading this , I am qualified to have an opinion about Hi Fi ( I am X- Publisher of Hi Fi plus mag )

I got both Aesthetix Eclipse and Atma-sphere MP-1. Both are excellent tube preamp. Different character but both are superb performers.

I always thought I would miss preamp tubes if I crossed over to the dark side, but I recently went from an LTA MicroZOTL preamp to Pass XP-20 and have not looked back.  Details emerged, stage grew bigger (especially higher), and most importantly for me, my noise floor dropped like a lead balloon.  Tubes are great, but you might benefit from considering SS as well (particularly if, like me, you have any electrical gremlins that can be exacerbated by tubes - particularly in the preamp where the signal is of lower amplitude).  

There have been a couple of mentions for VTL in this thread.
The top two models - TL-6.5 II and TL-7.5 III are both hybrid designs employing tubes and MOSFET and most importantly they are both MORE than $15K.

The sweet spot in the VTL line-up is the TL-5.5 II. This is a pure tube design. There is an option to have this model (and only this one) fitted with a tube phono section (which borrows a lot from their top of the line Phono stage). With the optional phono card installed this should squeak under your budget and it certainly will if ordered as just a line stage.

It also has a full function remote (machined out of a piece of alloy).

Aesthetics are personal and many here don't worry too much about them, but if you do then the VTL looks like a fairly modern, sleek unassuming box. There are no tubes on display, and no grab handles on the front.

Herron Audio VTSP-360.