High Quality Passive Preamp Recommendtion

Hey AVD,

have you had a chance to compare the Placette, FT Audio, or Morrrison ELAD?

So far, I haven't found anyone who has. Nor can I understand why any magazine hasn't done a shootout.

If not, can you give a list of those you've tried and your impressions.

Adcom GFP-750. I own one and plan to keep if for a while. I also own the Audio Research LS16 tube preamp. It's better but the Adcom is awesome especially for the price.

Anyone care to list those preamps recommended above which include an HT pass-thru?

I use an EVS ultimate passive attenuator. To start, you should know that they mount on the back of your power amp and to change volume, you have to reach behind to set the volume. The advantage to this is that you can eliminate one set of interconnects to the preamp and the interconnect from your cd player is carrying the full(2-7) volt output of the cd player, which makes for a more efficient signal transfer. The build quality is excellent, this shunt attenuator has been copied by many high-end preamps. I was previously using a presence audio linestage, which was excellent in its own right, but the evs product was clearly more transparent, extended and quiet, there is a wonderful ease and dynamic range. For $250, this product just makes sense. One caveat is that you will be hearing your cd player's faults which may lead to upgradeitis.

Does anyone here have experience with the First Sound passive pre, built by Emmanuel Go?