How much do I need to spend to get a preamp that sounds better than no preamp?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ with input switching.


Cheers George

That makes no sense. Unless you're running tubes, most people would have no idea if there's even a gain stage in there. How's putting in something nobody would miss, according to you, make money?

You make no sense, can't see the forest through the trees, as usual.

Like I said:
"We have the voltage from most sources at more than >2v.
Most poweramps only need less than <1.5v in, (some even 0.5v) to make them give full wattage output to the speakers." 

There is no debate at all, as any **** can see.
   
Cheers George 

What forest? What trees? You just explained why active pre-amps should be as rare as hen's teeth, but you can't seem to explain why the exact opposite it true. If gain in a pre-amp is that obviously bad, and there's no technical justification at all to have it, why is it almost always there? That's all I want to know. This money scam jazz isn't reality. 

My guess is that if you're buffering with active devices to ensure the broadest, most uniform compatibility, you might as well throw a little gain in too since the penalty is below the noise floor. 

Just for giggles I piped a source straight into my F5. Eh...  Nice to be able to do that since the amp doesn't have enough gain to fully exploit the power available. It sounded decent. Apparently the antique Marantz is fairly transparent. I definitely need about 6 dB of gain though.