Less is more? Premium passive linestage... HELP

I was doing just what you propose: accuphase 75v into (in my case)a SF Power 2. Sounded great, until I put a Placette volume control in between; now it sounds "greater". Seriously, this is a wonderful passive control that I recommend highly.

I've had great results running a Reference Line Audio passive pre. The build quality and aesthetic appeal is excellent. They are out of business (for now), but any good tech could fix one of these (very simple design). They can be found used quite reasonably. Happy listening.

Try the Luminous audio Axiom. Single input only! Great transparency with the caddock resistors. Tim is a great guy to deal with. I had a need for more inputs and am selling mine for 90.00. This has the more expensive volume control with the caddocks. Can't be beat for the price. He has them on ebay and is advertising that it is the best sounding preamp under 3000.00. He could be right! good luck and email me if interested.

Another recommendation for Placette. The passive linestage, at less than one third the price, took my system up a notch or two when it replaced a class A active preamp. There have been no trade-offs I have been able to detect with the Placette.

J.

I used, liked, and can recommend the Placette RVC as well, but am currently using a configuration you might want to consider: putting a TACT 2.0 (room correction system) in line and using it for room correction, volume control, and source switching. The benefits are that you get a unit that will measure and correct for room problems and imperfect speaker placement...it took some work to get eveything set in my room (actually kind of fun) but there is NO WAY that the TACT unit will be leaving my system any time soon...except to upgrade :0)

The unit has 4 digital inputs (I use a total of one), and 4 analog inputs, but using analog inputs necessitates having an optional converter (analog to digital), which some of the used units already have.

If you are not familiar with the room correction this may seem a little confusing, but the functionality is actually easy to understand and the unit easy to use.

One downside is that the volume control is in the digital domain, so if you attenuate volume significantly, there may be some loss...have noticed nothing of the sort in my system though even at low volume levels.

C.