$7000 preamp vs $700 receiver - Is the difference THAT significant?

@rabbottmke - too bad you have a dealer who's a jerk. One good thing about buying a used McIntosh -- If in good condition, they hold their value very well. So you'd be able to resell without getting killed. Good luck making the decision!

@rabbottmke

to be totally blunt... how much difference you hear will be a function of how good/experienced your listening skills are

your system has the ability to resolve the difference - the peachtree is the next sq bottleneck i would say ...to unleashing your system’s full potential (and of course, your room... but we are talking gear here)

in standard, experienced audiophile circles we would say the sound quality improvement would be quite substantial... whether you will perceive it as such is an open question

but as others have rightfully said - 700 to 7000 is really not the right quantum... you will get serious sq improvement with a good 2 channel preamp for 1500-2000 - above that you are buying the mac w meters cuz that is what you are drooling over

Don't sell that Peachtree Amp 500 short. It is fantastic with the newest Ice Edge AS1200 cards. Going to a better preamp will let that amp sing!

What jjss49  said, +1.

@jjss49 and @rodman99999 so this is what my DEALER is essentially trying to tell me. "Don’t waste your money on a Mac, get a $2000 AVP like the Marantz AV7705". He knows I’m lusting over the blue glow, and is trying (I think) to keep me from wasting money.

So there are three camps here.
1) Those that say the difference is significant, but your ears probably suck so don’t bother.
2) Those that say the difference is not much, but you’ll love the blue anyway.
3) Those that say "split the difference" and do what your dealer is trying to get you to do, by staying away from blue, and only kicking out the AVR for a modest price difference in a new dedicated AVP.

Thanks for the feedback folks. Lots to chew on!