Are passive preamps better?

Lynne:

Pubul57, Why does an amp with a low imput impedence affect the frequency response by increasing the mid's? Why doesn't it simply drive the pre into distortion?

P didn't say that -- he pointed to losses in low freq and very high freq.
Low input impedance means a lot of energy is required from the source component (the component before the amp) to drive the amp correctly. A "passive" pre doesn't provide energy -- it just attenuates it.
So, the task falls on the preceding component -- say, the cdp.

Overall, if the system runs out of steam trying to drive the amp... it's distorting.
(BTW, are you interested in/do you understand, how impedance works?)

Lynne

I've got 1.1V sensitivity@22k ohm

I take that to be the amp's specs, right? I.e. it reaches its peak when fed (a max) of 1,1V & its input impedance is 20kOhm. That's not too bad...

But are you saying your players have an "output impedance" of 10kOhm??? That's too high... I must have misunderstood something.

OTOH, 2V output is more than enough to drive the amp -- and then some. You should be able to use a passive attenuator on it.

(BTW, it's called "impedance" when the "resisting" factor changes with frequency; it's called resistance, when the "resisting" factor remians constant whatever the frequency)