A used ARC 5SE in great condition is well within your budget, at about $6k.
It’s about as good as it’ll get at that price point.
Preamp Upgrade Advice
I'm pretty new to higher end preamps, but looking for one to take over my current system. I had been using the preamp built into my Sonnet Morpheus DAC (which i'll be keeping for now until I upgrade to a Pasithea or something else, the preamp portion on these is functional but very basic). I have a benchmark LA4 right now, which works and is very clean, but its an almost overly dry and neutral sound. I'm looking for something with a warmer and fuller sound. Not sure if I want tubes or not, i've traditionally stuck to solid state but i've only ever tried budget tube amps before which were always too muddy and veiled for me
Only real criteria is it needs to have low output impedance to fit with my amps (ideally 50-100 ohms), balanced is a plus but not absolutely necessary. Doesn't need phono or a dac. If anyone has experience comparing the below i'd greatly appreciate it. Budget is $5-10k
Pass Labs XP-12 (current top choice, I've heard it before but not at home)
Audio Research LS-3 or LS-2
Conrad Johnson ET6/ET6SE
Rogue Audio RP-7 or RP-9
Bricasti M20 (over budget, but I could stretch for it)
Bryston BR-20 or BP-19
Naim NAC 322
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Nothing to add regarding your list I’ve never been happier with any preamp until I tried a full featured McIntosh mx110z Tube Tuner Preamp several are listed, some with evidence of upgrades https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=mx110z I enjoyed mine for a few years and then sent it to Audio Classics for an overhaul. They have one grade C-1 ready to go https://www.audioclassics.com/detail?detail=MX110&nav=cat You could ask them for a price to 1st replace all the RCA jacks with new gold plated, they did that to mine. I use a Chase Remote Line Controller RLC-1 to get remote volume/mute/balance with ANY vintage preamp and it has 4 Line Level Inputs here’s a used one, $70. used, note: light’s flashing is normal, or, new for $85.
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- 46 posts total