Passive Pre - No Regrets?

Started with a Bent Audio NOH (passive TVC, silver) and upgraded to latest Bent Audio TAP (TVC, silver). As Fazoid has observed, it was the best move I have made. When I recently swapped an active preamp, I knew just what made the TVC so special! If transparency and sonic purity is what you desire, the TVC is the way to go! I hear that the Promitheus TVC (Malaysian manufacture) sounds really good (I have no doubt) and comes with an attractive price tag. For those hesitating, it does not cost much to give TVCs a try. Once you are convinced, the convenience of the Bent Audio TAP (not to mention its beautiful futuristic look) is worth considering. I hear that Music First has entered into a deal with a Bent Audio to carry the TAP under the MF namesake. I also believe that John Chapman (real gentleman and genius, creator of TAP) is still offering the TAP under the Bent Audio badge for a few more weeks before the price goes up under the MF badge.

Denjo

Pubul57, I have in my system the Placette dual active line stage that replaced a Mark Levinson reference 32, that cost $10000.00 more then the Placette! However, it's performance was head and shoulders better then the ML-32.

The Placette was among six preamps, three were SS and three were tubed, that I auditioned before chosing the Placette for my system. It's a great preamp and I believe a bargain for $4500.00. If Guy sold his preamp through retail salons I believe the cost would be around $7500.00 to $8500.00 with the overall markup ratio.

Another Gon member finally found what he considered a better sounding preamp, the darTZell, which sells for almost $20000.00! That's quite a compliment considering the price difference.

A final thought, I believe that the active line stage is about 20% to 30% better in its sonic performance compared with the passive. You also might want to go back to the review that was in the Absolute Sound, that gave the Placette a "golden ear award", I believe it describes the sound of this preamp with great accuracy.

Thank you Teajay. I'll read the review. It would be worth it if the active was 10% better - we all accept diminishing returns at this end of the hobby. What tubed units were you audtioning at the time you chose to go with the Placette?

I spoke to Guy about my setup and I think it would be of interest to Merlin Speaker w/BAM owners. I'm feeding my DAC to the Placette RCV and that is connected to the BAM (Bass Augmentation Module running in battery mode)which is then connected to my amplifiers. The BAM has a 40 Ohm Input Impedance and a 100 Ohm Out put impedance and can put out up to 8-9 volts. Guy felt that with the BAM in my system, there would be very marginal improvements, if any, if I were to use his active. Apparently the BAM does a lot of good for this passive approach, which explains why I like it so much. My observations therefore might have to be taken in that context, although there are apparently other users of the Placette passive that like it quite a bit without the use of a BAM. I would say this, if you own a Merlin speakers and are using the BAM, you really owe it to yourself to try the RVC (he gives you a 30-day trial). I think you will be suprised by the results.

Pubul57, the tube preamps were the reference Lamm, Hovland HP-100 and Audio Research's reference before the Ref 3.

What you might find interesting is that I was discussing preamps with a dealer who is a tube "maven" about what would be worth auditioning in his opinion. When I asked him what preamp he uses in his home system, he laughed and said the Placette active line stage! He believed that it offered the best performance, even if it was not a tube based linestage. He also shared that all of his clients that auditioned the Placette kept it and traded in their tube preamps.