Can a simple DIY volume knob replace a pre-amp?

As a relative newcomer to TVCs (transformer volume control), and having recently acquired the Bent Audio NOH (silver transformer)I can unreservedly endorse all that Ngjockey has said in the above post. As an audiophile once remarked, it is "insultingly neutral". There is absolutely no loss in dynamics. The realism of brass, strings and subtle details is absolutely unbelievable. Voices are so life-like, I have found it very easy to actually hear singers articulate the lyrics to songs so much easier. Dan Fogelberg's "River of Souls" (track 3 - The Minstrel) has a passage with percussion (sounds like pins tapping on cymbals) that has hitherto been eluded by my other active preamps (high end I might add)but it shone with the Bent NOH.Ross Mantle of Ultra Audio wrote a seminal article in June 2003 with the provocative title, "Quick everyone, Sell your Preamps", extolling the virtues of the AVTAC Pasiphae preamp which uses Stevens & Billington's TVC. More recently, 6Moons and other audio journals are showing renewed interest in TVCs. Audio Zone's PRET-1, Music First's Magnetic passives and Bent Audio's NOH TVCs - no doubt many more will follow - shows that there is a better alternative to active preamps and might perhaps foretell that the future of preamps is to have no preamps but a TVC - no extra power cord, no resistors in its path. Can you imagine the future of an integrated amplifier with a TVC? Don't get me wrong: I am not saying TVCs are for everyone! it requires careful matching of source output and amplifier input, but if you can handle the absolute TRUTH there is nothing that can bring you closer to the honest truth than TVCs.

I don't mean to thread hi jack but I'd love to know if I can continue my couch potato stance on never getting up unless I need to turn my stuff off.

I guess this may need to be a whole other thread but I thought that since I've got some DIY gurus here I'd pose the question on how, where and what to do.

TIA and sorry for the hi jack, hope you get your passive pre taken care of!

Happy Holidays!

I also have the Endler Attenuators and can recommend them highly. Sounds *much* better than any preamp I've tried, even the high-end ones. Excellent quality.