Passive Preamps w/ Transformer Volume Control

Passive linestages can be very good if the rest of your system is up to the task. And a well designed TVC is the best of this breed. First, you must determine your amp input sensitivity and voltage gain, speaker sensitivity, source output impedence and voltage. If all these are "passive friendly", you are good to go.

What you will hear with a TVC over a resistor based passive is a very slight bloom in the midrange not unlike tubes. But you give up no ground in transparency or detail. The bass is also more solid and defined like that of an active linestage.

I lived with and loved a TVC for several years. Only recently have I gone back to an active preamp due to an amp upgrade that neccessitated it.

Oz

Gregm:

MFA is Music First Audio, which is one of the ones I'm looking at.

My direct setup is fine. There are a couple of CD players that I like to get but they don't have variable out. So thus the need for gain control. Additional switching would be an added bonus.

Teajay:

I am familiar with Bent. I believe Stevens & Billington (which owns Music First Audio aka MFA) provides the trannies for most TVC's including the ones for Bent.

Lak:

That's just it, it difficult to find places/people who have actually auditioned this stuff. I am aware of the CI Audio's PLC-1 but I believe that still uses a resistor potentiometer.

As between a resistor-based passive preamp and a TVC, are there any benefits of the former over the latter. From what I've heard and read, the answer is no. Any thoughts?