Tube Pre to mate with Parasound JC-1s & Maggies?

The ARC's are always great, of course.

I have had a Cary SLP98p (mine and F1 version from Upscale Audio) that was sublime with the JC-1's and my 3.6R's.

Good luck.

Many thanks for the great input so far - you've given me some good places to begin my research. As I wrote, I am relatively unexperienced with tube gear but was surprised to see no one has suggested a Shindo Aurieges ..?

Quicksilver Full Function Tube Preamp with plenty of gain. The new model rarely appears on Audiogon for around $2000 and it has a great tube phono section. Have patience.

Shindo is great stuff. i have heard and deeply respected one of their mid-level pres in my system. Depends on what you want. It is literally one of the most musical pres i have heard...ever. it has a touch of midrange magic that is stunning...though partly because it is a slight bit forward...which you can hear on orchestral when the strings seem more forward than typical. But on, say, Eric Clapton, when Clapton's voice just seems to captivate...it is quite magical...some would say spellbinding.

The impedance on your amp vs the Shindo is something to doublecheck. i also think you should consider that no Shindo comes with a remote...important for some, less so for others.

Another data point...the number of people who buy shindo and say they have stopped looking...that says a lot to me. good luck and pls keep us posted!

I used the BAT VK-31se with the JC-1s for around a year. Very nice together. It added what IMO the Parasounds lacked, weight and body throughout the freq. range.