Spend more money on the amp or the pre-amp?

For that kind of money, I would look for a good integrated amp.
Some really good integrated amps out there these days.

You probably don’t need to even consider separates unless your budget is more than a few grand. IMHO.


Oh, @soix beat me to it!

+3 exactly what I was thinking.

Integrated would be a way to go within your budget.

But if you aspire to own separates and possibly extend your budget to $1049.00, I would look at Schitt Audio's Vidar amp and Saga preamp. 

Yeah. But let's extend it to $8000, what then?