What’s the best préamp. for the Wavac 805 monoblocks

I had a pair of 45kg each, true 805 (not 845 like Cary had)) monoblocks, I made a good 15 years ago.
13d3 input to 12bh7 to 300b to interstage tranny to 805. 900v on the top cap anode black plate 805 RCA’s.
Evil amps one day they would kill me so I got rid of them. And the power bill!!! The best they sounded were with direct from the source or with a passive preamp.

Cheers George

+1 georgehifi for the direct/passive recommendation! Eliminating an active stage is a good idea. Especially since CD players and DACs can output 2 volts. Enough to drive most any amp to full output.

Enough to drive most any amp to full output.

And some.

Nelson Pass

"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.

Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.

Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.

What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.

And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."

Cheers George

@lukaske, since you own (and presumably like) an EAR Acute CD player, why not consider an EAR pre-amp? Two models: the 868 and 912. Both share the same designer as the Acute, the brilliant Tim de Paravicini.

Thank you!!! You give me good advice!!! My best friend has the whole Ear system.

Art Dudley reported a couple years back in his Stereophile Listening column on the time he spent with the EAR 912 in his system. He loved it. It’s not cheap, but as the owner of a pair of Wavac 805’s, that should not be a problem for you. ;-)