Passive Pre - No Regrets?

I have had a Placette for over a year now. I will never go active again. I have hi output low impedence sources and sensative hi input impedence amps. This is perfect for a passive linestage. Not everyone has components as well suited for sure. If I connected my source to my amp directly the volume was way too loud. This means my amplified linestage was really an attenuator! Going passive was a real shocking improvement for me. I will also say it is hard to find a phono stage suited for this. Low impedence out is hard to find especially with tubes.I have no opinion on my resistor ladder style unit vs a transformer based unit other than less passive friendly components than mine could benefit from transformered units and their potential 6db gain. They are more likely to color sound than a resistor ladder which could or may not be beneficial. Your results may vary in other words. Good luck! I like the Placettes remote control as well and the fact that a passive doesn't need a power cord(upgrade)since only the control functions use AC power not the signal path.

ET

Good point about phono preamps, Electoid. My solid state Gram Slee Era Gold mkV phono preamp(+ELP "transformerless" stepup) has an output of 240mV - 1.08V max. That's works for my Art Audio PX-25's 0.7V input, but not really enough for my Welborne DRD 300B monoblock's 1.5V needs. I have to use the +6dB setting on my TVC sometimes, which has it's own drawbacks.

"I don't have a thimble's worth of his experience or knowledge, and he always seems to make very measured and reasoned statements. So, I'm sure there are very good reasons for what he says."

Yes I agree he is a talented guy, but so are the fellows that design the passive units. His reasons are stated above..He designs and builds active preamps.

Personally have no preference to amplifier design. As long as it suits my taste.. any design will do.

Thanks for the link Herman..never seen this site before.

Good listening

This is at least the fourth thread I have seen on the active vs. passive line stage question, and they all result in the same response. Some cannot conceive of anything other than passive and others prefer active, with many having tried both. What does this tell you? System and tastes vary, I would think. It very much suggests that little is exchanged other than personal experiences. Would it not be great were we able to post sounds rather than words?

Remember that those interested in autoformers have to be sure that there is absolutely no DC on the output of their sources. Any DC getting through can be bad for amps.

By contrast, one of the primary benefits of transformers is galvanic isolation, or making sure no DC reaches the next stage.

Of course, if a person is sure that all their sources have no DC, then there can be sonic benefits to an autoformer over a transformer for volume attenuation.