BAT vk-52SE vs ARC Ref 3 vs CJ CT 5

I just replaced my 51SE with Placette RVC. The improvement was phenomenal. My jaw dropped to the floor when I first heard it. And best of all - it is only 1000$ vs 9500$ for the 51SE. IMO Placette is the best value product I came across in my 15+ years in hi-end audio.

Make sure to try it before buying anything else. May work for you as well. Placette gives 30 days money back guarantee.

Elberoth,

Did you lose any dynamic going from BAT 51SE to Placette? I have owned RVC and a friend has Placette active; I have always thought Placette is not the most dynamic pre out there. I assumed you are keeping the IC between pre & power very short?

Elberoth2 - The Placette is a passive pre-amp, if I am correct. Please elaborate on your amp and interconnect lengths, as I understand that passives are very dependent on amp input impedance and do best with very short interconnects. Thanks.

I just replaced my CAT SL1 with the Placette RVC. I heard no loss in dynamics at all. I use a 1m Cardas GR between the Placette and my CAT JL2 Amp (100kOhm input impedance, .85mv input sensitivity). Done right (proper matching bewteen source and amp), I don't think you can beat a passive for purity, transparency, and yes dynamics - especially microdynamics. If you have a difficult, low impedance SS amp, or long ICs with overall hiogh capacitance you may not great sounds, but getting it right is no more difficult that implemnting an SET strategy.

"Did you lose any dynamic going from BAT 51SE to Placette?"

No, not at all. That's what surprissed me the most. If anything, the Placette is even more dynamic than the BAT 51SE, with better bass definition and slam.

(Not to mention the usuall Placette fortes - supreme transparency, microdynamics, and purity of tone to die for).

IMO, in the RIGHT system, Placette is hard to beat. My amps are 44k Ohms, and my CDP is 200 Ohms.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but will the Placette RVC work well with a Plinius SA-100Mk3 amp and Krell KPS-30i CD player?

WOuld appreciate if someone could respond.

Thanks.

Ask Guy Hummel from Placette (hope I spelled his name right). He is an honest guy.

Does the Placette have a remote control option?

yes, both active and passive have Remote controls

RVC stands for Remote Volume Control - it can be used to add remote control wiht preamplifiers that do not have remote capability. When I used it in this way with my CAT SL1, I could hear no change in the sound of the CAT, the RVC is that transparent; and it added not only remote capability, but very fine gradations of volume settings with the stepped attentuator of the CAT. I think it is worth the price just for adding these two capabilites to otehrwise wonderful sounding preamps.