Are passive preamps better?

The old TAP by Bent with its lighting was beautiful and had a remote. I always wanted one. My Tivista CDP w/ its blue feet would have looked great with it!

ET

Interconnects are very important w/passives. Especially where HF is concerned. Keep them as short as possible. In my system however it sounds fine at low volume. In fact I find the HF better at lower volume. This could be due to the extra headroom on my LF amp. I use a Placette resitor ladder. My only source these days is a CDP w/2.5 VRMS@ 50ohms. I feed two amps: both CJ SS w/100K input impedance and the same gain although one is 100WPC (HF) and the other 250WPC (LF) My gear has fairly ideal values for a passive setup which is critical.

A passive linestasge (not preamp, it does not amplify) is very system dependant. You need high oputput, low impedance sources(my CDP is 2.5VRMS@50 ohms) and high impedance, sensative amplifiers. My CJ solid state amps fit that bill. I'm even able to drive two amps passivly just fine. Then the choice is resistor based or transformer based. There are inexpensive resistor based and more expensive ones. The inexpensive often use the DACT unit and don't have a remote. The more expensive units have a Vishay resistor ladder controlled by a logic curcuit. These have over 100 volume positions and a remote control. Placette uses this setup as does CJ in their preamps. CJ warns of sound gegredation through a volume pot. The Transformer based units can actually add 3-6db gain if needed but never have a remote. Some people like the sound of one type but not the other. I've tried a few of both and use a Placette by choice.

ET