Placette, VS First Sound VS Audio Synthesis Passio

4Yanx- I had the Bent unit you are describing in my system and another buddy's (Israel Blume- Owner/Designer Coincident Speaker Technology) for testing- although fairly smooth in presentation and not the least bit aggressive, we found it did soften the frequency extremes too much for our liking, and therefore didn't make the grade. That being said, John at Bent Audio is a super nice guy to deal with.

Israel and I both use Audion preamps from the UK, which we have found to be the best, however as far as transparency/neutrality go, I also found the Wyetech Opal quite outstanding, but this may be out of your intended budget. Vox- for YOUR situation, I would not hesitate to get the Placette RVC w remote. There is one right now on audiogon @ $650. If I had a single source only, this would be an easy decision...

I've listened to the Placette and Bent units in my system and liked them both, the placette has great detail but is lacking in bass responce compared to the bent unit, or I guess you could say that the Bent passive is laid back with better bass and the placette is more forward with more detail and less bass. I could live with both but bought the Bent in the end because I wanted balanced connection.

Dave

I have only had my Placette Passive Linestage for about 2 weeks and I have only good things to say about it. As mentioned transparency is second to none (my inexperienced ear hasn't heard better). The highs are crystal clear in a natural and non-fatiguing way (your ears aren't hurt by distortion) and IMO because of it allows you to listen at higher volumes allowing bass to come through. Is the Placette bass heavy? No. But it is not lacking in bass response. I have to use the word natural/realistic here. When you're listening to good live jazz recordings you won't get room shaking bass if the venue is a big concert hall. However if the venue is small and has wooden floors you'll most likely get much more satisfying bass. Just the nature of it.

$4000 for a passive? I usually don't complain about prices of components, but really, what is used in a passive pre that warrents a $4000 price tag? Loaded stepped attenuators?

The $4000 Placette is active. The $4000 First Sound referred to above is active. Once upon a time, First Sound made passive preamps, but no more.

The cost of the Placette units is directly related to the cost of the many Vishay S-102 resistors in them.