Best Full-Function Preamplifier

Hello, I agree with a few above about Audio Research Ref 6se. The preamp is the soul of your system. It is on my wishlist. I have the Ref 5se. It’s amazing! The Ref 3se phono stage is also on my wishlist. Right now I am using the Hegel v10. I believe you could have both for your price range. The amazing thing about the Hegel is it has a separate linear power supply built into the wall plug. It has balanced outputs and of course a lot of gain if you need it. For $1650 it is a steal. Please make sure your cartridge is set up properly otherwise not much else matters. 

VAC preamps have (optional) onboard phono stages that are fully "separates" quality, plus some. Only caveat is they use Lundahl SUT’s for MC gain, which is not my preference. So I patch in my own external SUT boxes and use VAC’s MM mode (all tube). Vinyl is 99% of my played source material, so I care about this a lot lol.

Unfortunately, without hitting the used market, they don’t currently have a great entry to meet that $20K slot. Their Renaissance V is ok but far from my favorite VAC model. Hopefully they replace it soon. Older Signature models were fantastic and retailed ~ 20K with phono. Current Signature IIa SE is a bit over, at 26K w/ phono.

"$20k would be enough for reference level power cord, maybe."

Probably the most elitist, pompous and pretentious comment every posted on this forum. 

I use what I consider to be not just a preamp with a phono stage but a “vinyl playback machine” the Atma-Sphere MP-1. A tube device, it has 6 tubes for the preamp line stage and 10 tubes for the phono.

However, currently a fully loaded MP-1 sells for $33,500 not $20,000.

Best to roll with NOS tubes. I got very lucky and got Mil Spec Mullard 12AT7s for the phono. Rare as hen’s teeth.

It's the reality, Tony boy. It doesn't care whether you like it or not.