Best solid state pre-amp below US $ 10.000,00 ??

Teajay: could you pass on the internet domain of Placette?
To which other units did you compare the Placette?

Of current production SS preamps that you can find used, the top Lamm (it uses a tubed power supply, but is otherwise fully solid-state) or the preamp in the DCC2.

The Blowtorch is said to be supurb, but it exceeds your budget and I have never personally heard it. Ditto for the Burmester pre's.

The Spectral preamps can be incredible, but they are a different flavor that not everyone will like and have to be partnered very carefully with associated components and speakers.

If you can do without a remote and don't mind hi-fi geek aesthetics, the Lamm will outperform all but a handful of preamps, be they tube or solid-state.

Frankpiet, I guess you should expect such greatly divergent views given the broad nature of your request. I think that some of the units recommended here are second rate, at least in my system. What it really comes down to is great diversity of tastes, limited exposure to the variety of available products, and the need for personal confidence that you have bought the right unit. You will unfortunately have to try to listen to these yourself if you can. Life is hard!

Thanks a lot so far for your very kind thoughts. I´ll start to audition by the end of next week several pre´s in my system - strangely some dealers strongly recommend to add the optional line-stage module to the Audio Aero Capitole cdp. as it is said to even outperform the Hovland the Ayre and the CAT which I will audition next weekend.
Can anybody prove that statement to be right or wrong?

In respect of Burmester - forget these amps - they do not reproduce music. Spectral I´ve heard - great but only in a true Spectral system with MIT cables. Lamm I can´t comment on as they have not been on my short list so far. The most positive feelings out of the forums I currently have with the Ayre K-1X Evolution - but that is unbiased as I haven´t heard the unit personnaly.

I had the linestage feature within the Audio Aero Prima DAC (the same as used in the Capitole) I used to own. I ran it as a preamp for a short while, and I can tell you that it is no match for any of the quality preamps you mention above, or my current fave, the DeHavilland UltraVerve.