Recommendations please for good, affordable pre-amp for system?

I’d recommend a TVC passive as it’s going to avoid most of the issues with impedance matching, will give you a very very low noise floor (prob most important quality for a preamp) and unlike other passives, they are still revealing at low volume levels (if you’re in an apartment, for ex). It also won’t need a socket.. no power cord). $500 preamps w/ AC power supplies are usually nasty sounding devices. Back to TVC, at around your price range.. the only ones you might want to consider are the Mingda TVC passives available on eBay. For the higher end I’d recommend a used Stereoknight or the newer similar version made by Audio Music (the RS).. it’s fully balanced. but for $350-$700, Mingda makes both a single-ended version and a balanced (XLR) version with two volume controls. You may not find it on eBay.. but just message them there. Fyi, these are simple devices.. so integration with home theatre will still require an additional ht processor device with ’pass through’ if you’d like to use multiple inputs/sources, but in general TVC’s will give you your best bang for buck. Another option is to pick up a used Rogue Metis for under $700 (stick with stock replacement tubes from Rogue). If you need it, the Rogue with thicken your musical stew in a good way. For transparency, a TVC will give you the cheapest most non-degrading volume control possible for the least $.