C'mon, guys, this is silly . . . terminological snobbery does not endear people to our hobby. I'm personally happy with the term "passive preamp", but it's not because of any ignorance of what's going on inside the box. It's for the same reason that I don't correct somebody if, for example, I ask for a Kleenex and somebody hands me a box of Puffs.
The term "preamp" in audio, for at least 50 years, has most often meant "the thing with selector knobs and a volume control that goes between sources and power amplifiers". So thusly, a "passive preamp" is most commonly understood to be one of these things, that performs its functions with passive components only . . . the big indicator being that it has no power cable or batteries. They are for "line-level" (IHF 250mV) sources only, and generally work best in systems that have high gain power amps and/or sensitive speakers.
A "preamp" does not require a phono stage to keep its name . . . this has been true for many years. Remember that tape-playback preamps at one point migrated from the "preamp" to the tape deck? Yet nobody demands that we call a Revox A77 an "integrated deck-preamp" or whatever. Likewise, if somebody owns a "passive preamp", and they want to play records . . . they must ask for a "phono preamp" or a "phono stage" if they want the proper thing. Simply asking for a "preamp" will most likely not do.
I think that even those who scoff at the term still know exactly what one is . . .
The term "preamp" in audio, for at least 50 years, has most often meant "the thing with selector knobs and a volume control that goes between sources and power amplifiers". So thusly, a "passive preamp" is most commonly understood to be one of these things, that performs its functions with passive components only . . . the big indicator being that it has no power cable or batteries. They are for "line-level" (IHF 250mV) sources only, and generally work best in systems that have high gain power amps and/or sensitive speakers.
A "preamp" does not require a phono stage to keep its name . . . this has been true for many years. Remember that tape-playback preamps at one point migrated from the "preamp" to the tape deck? Yet nobody demands that we call a Revox A77 an "integrated deck-preamp" or whatever. Likewise, if somebody owns a "passive preamp", and they want to play records . . . they must ask for a "phono preamp" or a "phono stage" if they want the proper thing. Simply asking for a "preamp" will most likely not do.
I think that even those who scoff at the term still know exactly what one is . . .