Anyone own one of these preamps ?

I just want to support what @stevehardy1 said in his earlier post. The PS Audio PMG Signature preamp is wonderful and would be a great addition to your friend's list. This preamp is transparent, dynamic, sweet, and non-fatiguing, and there are many strong, positive reviews online.

It is an interesting connection to your friend's Parasound gear that Darren Myers, the engineer/designer of the PMG preamp, was lured away from PS Audio to Parasound after he designed the circuits for the PMG pre.

Message received on the PS Audio.   It’s a solid contender IMO and probably fits better on his short list than one or two of the others.

Thanks all.   

If you were to use batteries made by Lirpa Labs in the remote, that alone is a complete game changer.  Try it and report back. 

I own a Herron VTSP-360.  It's very dynamic and detailed, without being overly so.  It's very neutral, and does not sound "tubey".  More of a "straight wire with gain" preamp than one that will sound a certain way.  

I've heard Anthem preamps, but don't consider them in the same league.  IMHO, room correction is for home theater, but to each their own.  No experience with the other products mentioned.

I had the Anthem STR Stack (pre/amp) and loved it! Yes the ARC is great for home theater as referenced above but it was also very handy for my 2.2 system. I am able to tailer the sound to how I like it and is has great bass management when using subwoofers. It has a ton of connectivity for pretty much anything and the internal phono stage has a lot of options of adjustment as well. Now I will say it takes a little tech knowledge to tweak things but you can do a lot with it. It has an app to make things a little easier if you like that too.