Passive Pre - No Regrets?

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.

"I had to laugh at Mr.Sphere's comments about passives not being able to drive the cables... that's a pretty broad statement. With the right source some of these passives(TVCs) will spank an active all day long driving cables. Being he designs and builds active preamps..I'm not surprised at the negativity towards passives. Man.. this jet black background coloration is working for me.;-)"

It might surprise you that we've built passives too. Of course, we do think that our line stages exhibit a new possibility of line stage capability (and we are who we are- no surprises there- if you think I ought not offer comments I'm open to suggestions).

I like to take advantage of the capabilities of monoblock amplifiers by putting them very close to the speakers, thus keeping the errors introduced by any/all speaker cables to a minimum. This means that the interconnect has to have some length. There are no passives that we have found that are able to drive the distance without an audible artifact. Our line sections can drive 30-100 feet with no difficulties. Simply out of the question with passives unless the control is at the input of the amp.