$5000.00 To Spend Looking for Tube Pre-Amp

+1 on the Shindo Aurieges. You might even be able to score a used Shindo Monbrison at your stated price point or a little above.

You are getting some excellent suggestions here. Herron is very well respected, and agreed on Shindo from experience. I believe ILS in NY has a Monbrison for sale. It is a used trade in on their website. If you are looking for a line stage only, a CJ Premier 16/2 just came up here the other day. That's a hell of a preamp as well. I had the 16/1, and always loved it.

There are pretty much three worth buying in this range, assuming you seek a line preamp only:

Melody Pure Black 101
Valvet Soulshine (6sn7 version)
Valvet L2

All three are 6sn7 based. You can buy them new and they will outperform preamps you can buy used that were once more expensive.

Phil

Great suggestions so far - consider a dehavilland Ultra verve - and save some money. Changed my system completely and made me realize how important the line stage is in the chain.

Jmcgrogan2

I already purchased a one for the main room. This one is for my bedroom.