If you had 10k for pre and power amp but you had

i would buy the tube research mono 100s on this sight, for sale, and then worry about a preamp. i think as i said many times , the amps are even more important than speakers. enzo ferrari said ; i build engines and attatch wheels to it.

There are a few exceptional companies out there that make very good products for the price, but for the most part, you get what you pay for in electronics. If you spent a certain amount of money on the amp, I would mate it with something that was close in price. To get the best for the price does require extra effort and research, but it will be worth it. You may end up overpaying (pre-amp)for something that will make very little, if any, difference in your system because of the lesser price of your amp. If you spent a huge amount of money on the pre-amp, but a lot less on your amp, you will probably wonder what a better amp would sound like with the pre-amp and so on and so on and may be continually wanting to update.

In many systems, especially those with exotic speakers such as ribbons or electrostats, the most important synergy in the system is that between speaker and amplifier. If it took the 8 grand going into the amp to get that synergy, then that's where I'd put it.

With less demaning speakers, there are still far too many variables to state categorically how the money should be allocated. What are your top priorities, and what are you willing to trade off to get those qualities? Tradeoffs are inevitable, but if you're trading off something you don't place a high priority on then the negative impact is minimal.

With 10k to play with, I would start with a First Sound pre and a Lamm M1.1. I have heard this preamp produce the magic,and I chose the Lamm for its' class a operation and stunning sonics.I love tubes,but I don't need the frustration of the sound changing as the tubes age-not as much a problem in low level equipment{pre,dac,phono}.Both pieces are available on the used market and should fit the dollar figure.M1.1s only use a single tube,give much of the benefits of tubes with ss control in the bass.Unless high power is needed for a low efficiency speaker or to fill a large room,they're hard to beat. Enjoy-Tom

If I had to allocate $2K & $8K then I would pay closer attention to the preamp. I've gone through 5 preamps in the past year all of which were in a similar price category (~$500 to $1500 used) and they all had their own distinct character, strengths and weaknesses. And these differences were more pronounced than the differences between power amps that I have tried over the years. This of course assumes that your amp is at least sufficient to drive your speakers in the first place. Not that there's a magic formula but I would rather split the $10K more evenly, perhaps $6K preamp, and $4K power amp. (And again, only if the $4K power amp will be sufficient for whatever speakers you are driving).