Placette RCV Passive Pre between pre and power amplifiers?


Hello. This is my system at the moment: cdp Aurora Labtek + pre Audio Research LS5 MKII + final Krell KSA50 + speakers Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand. Despite the fact that the pre is only in balanced and the final only in unbalanced, I am equally happy with what I listen. The only regret: not having a remote control for the pre. Now I was wondering: does it make sense to insert a RCV Passive Pre Placette Audio between the pre and the power amplifiers, in order to take advantage of its remote, without losing any of the sound quality I have at the moment? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Maurizio. Italy
samoggia
Now I was wondering: does it make sense to insert a RCV Passive Pre Placette Audio between the pre and the power amplifiers, in order to take advantage of its remote, without losing any of the sound quality I have at the moment?
Try just the  Passive Pre Placette between your source and the Krell (without the LS5 in).
You may be shocked at the transparency, dynamics and less colored sound you get.

Cheers George 
agree with George, up to a point.

it will depend on the impedance match and output drive between your CDP, and the Placette RVC, and then the same with your amps.

the odds are that you will prefer the Placette RVC to your active preamp in the signal path. but you really cannot 100% predict exactl how it will work or whether you like it. assuming you are buying the Placette new there is typically a 30 day money back trial period.

from 2001 to 2005 i used a balanced Placette RVC with a custom passive switchbox made by Jena Labs. it bettered my $15k Mark Levinson No.32 preamp to begin with, and then a number of other active preamps. it wasn't until i tried the (now $40k) darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp that i found a better pre than the Placette.

good luck.
What George said, +1.    I had a Placette Passive Linestage and loved the transparency, over the ARC SP9 and SP14, that came before, though neither did anything, "wrong".    The only problem I had, with the passive, related to the inefficiency of the rest of my system.    That only reared it’s head, when listening to some sessions, recorded at lower levels.    My love for LOMC carts, Magnepans and tubed main amps, all contributed to the shortcoming.    Anyone that didn’t require the SPLs(I try for live), wouldn’t have had an issue.    With a majority of recordings; the presentation was wonderful.    Definitely: give it a try, without the pre.
btw:  Think about the extra interconnect pair(s, depending on configuration), if you leave the ARC pre, in the system.   More connections and wires, never seem to help one's presentation.