Le Roy, I first bought the 520 pre in /12, I now have the 511 & the 560. I can't justify the price of the 7 series but I can fully relate to your statement above.
Decided... Going with the Ayre Kx-5 Twenty pre. Will keep my Hegel for now as a power amp, replace it down the line with something., probably tubed. I would have gone with the PS Audio BHK pre but in my setup I really gotta have the fixed-level outputs. Auditioned the Ayre with my speakers at Audio Connection in NJ and it was just amazing.