Bought powerful/expensive Amp+Speakers but plan to use an old preamp , am I crazy?

Yes you are crazy. We are all crazy. The world is crazy. That said, do what makes you happy even if your old preamp will hold back your new rig. 

Unfortunately the preamp is really the brain of the system and impossible to dismiss. So much so that I just forked out for a PS Audio BHK preamp. Should get it mid week 🙂

I’d go so far as to say, hell, your gonna love it. You already "love" the phono stage and the unit it self is pretty decent. With the upgrades that you will be using, your gonna be happy. Maybe even VERY happy. I hope so. And this leads into the upgrade path you should be taking, which is, don’t stretch you budget to include everything if you don’t have to. Instead focus most of the budget on one or two great components (then start the saving process over again for next upgrades). By doing so, you get slower upgrading, but to much better equipment. And when done in say 5 to 8 years,,,, KILLER SYSTEM.

Honestly, the only way to truly know is to listen side-by-side with another option.

For example, I recently bought a Van Alstine Ultravalve Tube amp for a second tier system (wanted some tube ish) and paired it with a Aragon 24K SP preamp that was modified by Kevin Chambers (power supply and some inernal mods). But I wanted another preamp that could do both XLR and RCA, so I picked up a Schitt Freya+. Also thought the tube preamp with the amp would be one of those "magical" pairings.

First initial listening session? I think I liked what I perceived as better clarity with the Aragon. This is with stock tubes on the Freya+ (I have some NOS Sylvania tubes on the way). Honestly, with all the hype the Freya+ has gotten, I thought it would be the clear winner.

Now, the updated caps are still breaking in on the Aragon and I have no idea how many hours are on the stock Tung Sol 6SN7’s with the Schitt, but this is why you gotta listen to things in your system. BTW, neither preamp sounded bad...it was just a matter of which was doing what better.

(FYI, after Kevin’s mods to the 24K it tested better than the OEM specs of the 28K, which everyone considers the "better" Aragon preamp).

I was in a similar situation: good amp with no volume control, good speakers, but little budget for a preamp. I bought the new Emotiva BasX PT1. The edgy treble was too much for me. I did notice that putting a second preamp, a Xiangsheng 728A, after the Emotiva smoothed things (but preceding the Emotiva it did not). Fortunately, Emotiva honored its no-reason-needed return policy. I stretched my budget to a Van Alstine Transcendence RB 10, which is his budget tube preamp. The setup is marvelous now, detailed without going edgy and musical without going muddy.