Placette linestage vs. Adcom 750 passive

The Placette is a simple resistor ladder, consisting of very closely matched Vishay Bulk Foil resistors, two total per channel, per attenuation level. The power supply for the remote function is housed separately from the attenuation(signal) circuit, and it sports OFC RCAs. Bottom line: It is as completely transparent as the best interconnects you might find to hook up to it. No "garbage" about it. If you want the best and most transparent in a passive linstage, the Placette is it. I owned one for a couple years, and(unfortunately) needed gain to feed my SPL addiction.

What about the Sonic Euphoria? Although Stereophile gives the Placette a class A rating and the Sonic Euphoria a B, I read the review and comparison, and it seemed more of a tradeoff in sonic strengths than one being clearly superior.

And the Sonic Euphoria can provide a little bit of gain and is less finicky about interconnect lengths.

Would it be an "upgrade" for me?

That will depend on your system. Gain is something that needs to be taken into account when using a passive unit as it needs to be provided by the source and the amp only. Some passive units provide a bit of gain to address the possible lack of gain issue with some systems.

I highly recommend the Promitheus Audio C-core TVCs. They are transformer-based, dual-box designs. It was a revelation to me how having a switch selector and volume control for each channel can render images so accurately. This feature is rare in the realm of preamps, regardless of price. Promitheus TVCs may be lacking some ergonomic features, but judging from their sound performance in the right system, I think you need to spend way a lot more money to get this kind of fast, articulate, grain-free and harmonically-correct sound.

If you really need volume control, then you should look at the new Bent Audio TVCs. I'm not sure, but I think the Bent units provide a bit of extra gain.

Hello iSanchez. I misspelled "Promitheus Audio" and you are correct - C-core improves. I had it - its great with Spectron monoblocks because you have enough bass and fantastic 3D sound stage - with other amps its good but its only sub $1k preamp...

Bent is also good but Promithieus finish is unbelivable and I have a weakness for nice looking audio equipment.

Did you ever hear Placette? dry, dry, dry...

Perhaps you don't know what the term, "transparent" means. You don't "hear" a Placette AT ALL. If what is passed to your amp is "dry", that's what your source is delivering. Some people prefer colorations/inaccuracies in their reproduction. If this is what you are seeking, the Placette will not deliver, as it will add(or subtract) nothing to(or from) the signal. If you want to hear exactly what the source is delivering, the Placette is the passive for you.