whats the best pre amp to pair with Bryston 4b cubed? A

So you have not bought the Bryston amp yet?

I’m going to assume we can pretty much start off fresh. Keep the Arcam integrated and...this is going to sound like a broken record but get a set of Triangle Deltas ( or better). The Triangles will give you what the Arcam doesn’t with the Totems. Tons of imaging and deep deep sound stage. A huge step up and well within the budget. Better electronics WILL get you more from the Totems but for the same money you can have your bucket list system that is way above a change in just the electronics.

yes well if the bryston amp is not a done deal, my no-brainer suggestion is get a hegel h190 and be done... superb amp, sweet combo with totems

The Arcam is a nice amp. I'm not convinced it's going to make a huge jump.

I tried a set of 7b3 monoblocks in my system at one point in time.  It turned out to be pretty good after an internal fuse upgrade, but the overall sound was thin in bass, midbass, midrange.  I would pair this with a very thick sounding preamp with heavy on the midrange texture and warm slow bass.

This is my experience also.I did not work together with audio research ref3 preamp

Thin and bright sound.Things improved with onkyo p3000r preamp