I'm building my own, around an AHT DM-P, which offers 66 db of gain, enough for no line stage of amplification in my system (and surely in almost all systems). If you want advice on building a world-class ladder type stepped attenuator, just post your email address on this thread and I'll give you the details of what I'm doing. It eliminates a cable and its connections at both ends, both financially and sonically beneficial. In essence, I've built a chassis that surrounds the AHT DM-P chassis (not counting its power supply, which is separate) and mounted the attenuators in close proximity to its circuit board(s), and run connections from them to the switches. You could get a millwork shop to do the surrounding chassis for you if you can't do it yourself. Incidentally, my main reason for doing this was to avoid the complex circuitry and mediocre volume controls in even such prestigious preamps as the CAT SL 1 III and the CAT Ultimate. Even with a fully separate passive preamp, I got much better transparency and detail.
