Interesting I had the Adcom and preffered the pre in active too.Bummer was I had the whole stack (GCD and 5802) and it was just too much juice for my little 805 Matrix B&W's.Sounds like a good combo to me but I might want to try a Bryston 20 or 25.Ultimately if you have the speakers for it the active Bryston X-over.It would be a and all Bryston sound and be a bit more but might be better.But the Adcom is a hell of a good pre-amp if you have not problems with switching electronics.Adcom's could be built a bit better.