First tube preamp recommendations (under $5k)

a. nervosa has set in.

Just count yourself lucky.  VERY lucky.

Guys so I ended up buying a used ARC Ref 5SE. I found it for the same price as my local dealer was offering for the ref5.
Gonna have it sent to ARC to check over and ensure in good condition and then they will ship to me.
Thanks for all your help!!! Hopefully will work well. Fingers crossed.

The ARC REF 5Se is an outstanding preamp. It was the center of my system for at least five years. Don’t second guess this decision, it is a world class preamp. It would be a worthy component to keep indefinitely. Last year I did a major system upgrade… at that point I had spent so much money, I just said I might as well upgrade the preamp, so I swapped it for the ARC REF 6se. It is better, but it is or of the same class of preamp. It is $17,000 USD. So, enjoy your purchase. Thank your wife for pushing. I have a friend who dithers… he is 70 and has a few world class components and a couple he just couldn’t commit to upgrade… his system sounds terrible… like Sears components… Enjoy, you only live once… live well.

@ghdprentice Thank you for your sage and kind comments man. It makes me feel good that I made the right decision. I really look forward to my first experience with tubes :D
What does the rest of your system look like ?

Here are my systems.
https://systems.audiogon.com/users/ghdprentice

Enjoy!