Placette

I run the Placette and IMHO, it's as good as a preamp gets.

pair with a mac pre...any model from the c15 up. the synergy is perfecto!

Before you buy anything, you should contact North American Products about their H-Cat Holographic preamp. Go to www.H-Cat.com and you can get a list of dealers. I previously owned a Placette passive preamp. Not bad for the money, but IMHO, the H-Cat is in a class of it's own. Please try to audition it, before you buy anything. I don't think you'll be sorry.

I replaced my CAT SL1 MKII with the Placette RVC after having bought it simply to provide me with remote volume control. At $1,000 with a 30-day trial you cannot go wrong -you can use your own ears in your own system without out having to rely on reviews and opinions other than your own. You need to speak with Guy to disucss your sources, amplifier and cables to make sure the passive approach works - if it does, you will be amazed how good a $1000 preamplfier can sound. Even better, is Placette's Active Linestage (which I now own); at $5000, it is not quite the deal of RVC, unless you consider that is competitive with any preampfier out there at any price. I won't argue it is the best - no such thing - but is certainly worth considering when looking for one of the better preamplfiers on the market. From a $$$ point of view, the RVC is no slouch and a no brainer.

The little Placette passive,as most have stated is more pre than one should expect. Sure there are better pre's but not at that price. Keep in mind a lot depends on the quality of the rest of your parts/ the output voltage of your transport/ the length of your ic's---Speaking of the quality of the rest of your parts,--- at auction today, we have an 8k power cord and a 4k aes/abu cable and sometimes it's hard to say just how much pre one needs; and how much money in cable is to much. I would guess this little passive will be quite a leap over what you have now.Check for one used and be able to turn it if you don't love it.