Good preamp for under $300

Adcom GFP-565 is a nice piece in your price range

Audioman, what's a bypass mode?

Kkat,
Bypass mode is using the preamp purely as a pass thru for your source to your amp... just using the volume pot. not the gain section of your preamp. You dont get the same volume levels as when the preamp is active. It is supposed to be a more sonically pure way to listen.. I personally like the sonics of the pro 10 without using the bypass mode imo. The external power supply is rock solid and it is a good thought on B and Ks part to isolate it from the rest of the electronics.
It is just one of those nice pieces...
Best of luck,
Joe

I just got a used PS Audio 4.5 preamp for $220 on ebay. There is a 5.0 on ebay right now for about $150 and the auction ends today I think. So far Im very impressed with this pre going with my B&K ST-140. Very warm sound with an almost live performance quality. It has no tone controls, outboard power supply, straightwire mode (makes unit a passive pre) and dual outputs. Very good for the price.

I can second the recommendation on the B & K Pro 10MC. I used one for about 5 years before upgrading.