Preamps

the 523 is an awesome unit. i don’t want to denigrate JRDG because he’s a great designer and fine fellow. but in my system the ml 523 was considerably more satisfying to me than the corus BUT the systems were different. my sense however was that the ml was more finely detailed, transparent and very musical. and being a ml unit a true joy to operate and so beautifully built.  the only better ss pre that i’ve personally owned that might exceed the ml is the luxman c-900u but either one would satisfy almost anyone in my humble opinion. 
if you’ve owned a corus i don’t think you’ll be happy with good sound but lousy package. you’re going to want both.

Ayre is certainly not out of business.  I just (a couple of days ago) got my V1 amp back .....I thought I heard a brightness in one channel of my 15 year old amp....  When I got it back, EVERYTHING about the sound was many ways better than the old one.  The price was very reasonable...they replaced many, many parts to the current ones.  I can't say enough good stuff about them.  The man in charge of repairs is Gary.  If you call, he'll call back....or Email him.

I just couldn't deal with Vicoustics for room treatment due to what I deem poor customer service. I completed my order with GIK and should have everything sometime next week.

Was it the same process with GIK as it was vicoustics?  Did you just send them a video of your room?

try on your poweramp: Audio Note M5-M10, EAR 912, Ayre KX-R ,VAC.
Tubes are the best at that kind of amp. Speakers are of course very important.