Pre-amp opinions: SAE vs. Hafler

http://www.angelfire.com/art2/stereorepair117/highend.htm
Here's a site that does repairs. What I found interesting is that most equipment usually fails the same way, so these guys have listed many known issues. Take a look before you jump. Patience pays off in the long run. When I was in college I started out with what I could afford and a plan that when something failed, I would take the opportunity to upgrade it rather than simply replace it. After a while I got sick and tired of being nickeled and dimed to death by mediocre equipment and bought my first "real" preamp (Hegeman Hapi2). Still with me today on a secondary system and sounds great.
Sorry to say it..but listen to your dad. Enjoy the Hafler. It's a great starter preamp.

Great resource, i know the sae and hafler stuff has some weak points, so i'm sure i'll be needing service eventually. The denon will probably end up with my dad, my current repairman. He's actually working on his carver preamp right now. seems like the capacitors all start to go on all these 20+ year old pieces. Is your main system tube or solid state?

Both tube and Solid State. I have a Grado Ph1 SS phono stage that I recently blew up. It's fixed now and currently I am swapping op-amps and bypass capacitors into it to improve it's sound. My current preamp is a (tube) Sound Valves VTP-101, which very recently replaced a (ss) Forte 44. Before the Forte was the (SS) Hegeman Hapi2. Before the Hegeman was NAD, SAE. The Acurus L10 I mentioned was for my son, who prefers an Apt Holman Preamp. The Acurus sits in a cabinet with the Forte as spares.
My amplifier is an Aragon 2004. Can't say enough good things about that one. Before that was an Apt A-1, before that was a Phase Linear 200. I built a Hafler DH110 SS power amp for a friend years ago from a kit (my standard fee is a bottle of single malt) and found the amp very musical, though not as sweet as the Apt. He borrowed my APT, bought one himself and never went back.
I have 3 Tube amps not in use because they all need service, a Dynaco ST70, a Fisher SA-300B, and a Golden Tube Audio SE40. I haven't decided what to do with them yet. The Aragon is really sweet and detailed, and has the power necessary for my speakers, The Large Advents. I'm not sure any of the above mentioned tube amps have enough power to really drive the Advents.
Yeah, the capacitors start to go, but fortunately, there's a lot of options out there that can really improve things. BTW, tell your dad not to forget the capacitors in your speaker's crossovers, they too can go, and possibly ruin your speakers. I replaced mine years ago with some audio grade models, and the speakers got clearer.
Who would've thought??

I'll pass that along, i think he has a pair of mission speakers, same vintage as the carver pieces. Ever owned any macintosh? Also what what's your primary source? I want to get a tt eventually but for now i'm content with digital.

Primary source is turntable, at least that's where I get the most enjoyment from. I have a pretty decent Cd player (Adcom GCD-750) but it can't hold a candle to my turntable. I get a kick out of vinyl, especially when I find a used album for $1.99. Can't beat that feeling.