Amen! The worst move I have ever made in my twenty-odd years in the high-end is selling my Line Drive by Mod Squad. Was a box with high quality rotary switches and high quality volume control and I have never found any other preamp which has sounded so good. In fact, I am currently searching for something to use to replace what I have. I sold four years ago, thinking I was moving up and have five high-end preamps since. Does anyone out there have a Line Drive for sale in black and primo condition? A Line Drive and a Threshold FET ten/pc phono stage are the best sounding combination I have ever heard and am moving back as soon as I can find the Line Drive.
Why a line preamp?
It's been my understanding that the best component is a straight wire. Further, before the the advent of the phono a preamp was not required. All that was needed was a volume control. Now with the reduced usage of the phono we find we must have the line stage preamp. Where's the straight wire philosphy? Why do we need anything more than a volume control and selector switch? Today I connected my McIntosh tuner directly into my amp since the tuner does have a volume control. It sounded better.