Motif MC 7 or MC 8

The MC7 is the better preamp. They both are very nice. They both have nice phono stages, which is the reason to consider them.

Is the MC7 worth double? Considering that they do not appear very often for sale, that depends on you. The MC7 sold for about 50% more when they were new.

The MC-7 is the more neutral. The MC8 is slightly to the warm side.

The circuit design of the popular Conrad Johnson PFR is for the most part an MC-10 in a CJ case with a remote control added.
The separate MC-11 phono stage also basically became the EF-1 that sold with the PFR.

The MC-10 has many higher quality parts than the PFR. This is not to say that the parts in the PFR are not of good quality, they are very good.

There was also the MC-9 which is line stage only version of the MC-8 (ie, no phono).

The Motif line was Lew Johnson's baby.