I was the one who had mentioned to Fitz that the km184's have a hot output stage and to make sure he had enough padding on his rig to deal with it. I mention this to most everyone who asks because the day I got my Mixpre I ran out and plugged it in to my 184's and MR-1 and went into a loud show(New Mastersounds), and got blown out, bigtime. I have to run -20dB inline pads before the Mixpre to tone it down. Yes, this is ultimately an issue with what the MR-1 can handle signal wise, I might have been able to get away with running off the tape out on the mixpre(doubtful though), but I still feel it's a valid warning because in the whole chain it's something that needs to be thought of, and can really ruin your night out, especially for someone who is new to mics. I feel it's especially precarious when you don't have an on-mic attenuator to fall back on, and your pre has no switchable pads. As for preamp choices, Mixpre/MP-2 sound great with the 184's, I ran a V3 with them at the Greek this summer which I thought was very nice as well, currently I'm listening to one of my sources from Deer Creek this year with 184's > UA-5 and it sounds very good as well, although perhaps not as beefy or complex as the Mixpre or V3, it's still quite listenable. I think everything that's been suggested in this thread for a pre for these mics has been thoughtful and right on the money. On a side note... Anyone ever run a Portico with 184's? Wondering how that might sound.
Good luck Fitz, post what you end up with!
J