Preamp recommendation

I have discovered preamp's add value by the end of the seventies until the end of the eighties  in listening Conrad johnson vs audioresearch gears..

A local distributor and personal friend organised listening sessions outside opening hours of the store later in the evening...

They teamed up CJ and AR afficionados...

evey one was coming with its own unit and their vinyls...(no digital technologie at this time.except the 80 ties.)
you can imagine Audioreserch SP 6 SP6 A B C..... Conrad Jonhson pvé,premier two,premier three and so on..

This glorious "golden age" allowed to understand the subjective difference from a gear to another without any commercial consideration and to set up a real sound subjective culture for the audiophile involved in..

I have a Conrad Jjonhson collector PV 10A,PV8and PV9A designed  from 1989 to 1992

all are fitted with phono step..

I am very fond of the subjective sound balance of music rythm, soundstage, aeration and the weight of the note that gives music matters ,you gorget electronic presence avoiding  "hyper definition"...

This brand reach to save their product philosophie for years in keeping a consistant approach between vintage and current range of preamp's ....

"it just sound right!"

Raymond

@georgehifi
Thanks for the links and suggestions for passive.

I was lucky to find a used Einstein The tube mk2 for less than 40 percent of the list price in an audio forum, here in Norway. I mostly agree with the glowing review by Fremer in Stereophile - this preamp sounds like nothing, like a good preamp should do. It does have some sound of its own, though, which may fit in very well in your case. Both, the tube part of the amplification, and the hefty s-state power supplies. Delicate and powerful.  

i love tube active preamps.  they add life like dynamics, have a more refined sound with larger sound stage and offer the option to customize with tube changing.
i have had the rogue audio rh5 headphone amp linestage and the sound is excellent, crystal clear with hard driving attack and energy.  
recently upgraded to the rp7 and the rh5 does not lose much at half the price.  
the rh5 is a stellar bargain at $2500 retail.  

i love tube active preamps. they add life like dynamics, have a more refined sound with larger sound stage and offer the option to customize with tube changing.

i agree with this - conrad johnson, audio research, vac etc have not been stealing deaf peoples' money for the last 40 years...