Best preamp for atma sphere m60 under $3000 used?

Pedrillo,

If you are planning on using this preamp w/Merlins and BAM, then the passive pre suggestion is not applicable for you. The BAM will perform far better using the buffered output of an active preamp (covered in MANY OTHER threads in detail).

As an Atma-Sphere amp and Merlin owner, my experience has shown the Dodd battery-powered preamp and the Herron preamps to be the best performers TO MY EARS & IN MY RIG, out of many including the MP3, Joule LA150 I, CAT SL1Mk3, Cary SLP2002, and a few others. From a performance/price ratio perspective, I find the Dodd unmatched.
Caution, my opinions are based mostly on vinyl listening with a very good Vendetta phono stage, which certainly contributes to what I hear. Cheers,
Spencer

I've been going back and forth with the Dodd and MP-3 and both are very good preamps (like Spencer, I have also owend CAT and Joule pres). I prefer the Dodd with my Music Reference RM9SE and prefer the MP-3 (latest version with V-Cap and Power Regulation upgrades) with the M-60s. I suspect, but don't really know, that the MP-3 linestage is better than its phono-stage. I guess you can't know till you try both, but the Dodd is certainly a REALLY good value, but for me there is a synergy between the ATMA pieces that work for me (as a line stage, unfortuantely I stopped using vinyl a while ago).

I am quite certain an atma preamp will be in my system in the near future.
It's just that I want to have the best(mp-1) and right now it's out of my budget.
So it'll end up being the mp-3 probably unless a miracle happens.

In my opinion, you couldn't do better than the combo of the BAT VK-31SE (used ~$3000) and the M60.

Tvad,

The third finger goes to Allen Wright's VSEI RTP5, which I have not heard.