Placette Passive Owners...

Howie, the power amp was a Classe Omega Reference, and yes it went from a previously balanced connection to single ended. I forgot to mention that bit in my original post. I am still a little surprised that the performance of the Placette would differ that significantly in another system.

Howie - I had tried a number of tube and SS pre-amps over the years (from $2,500.00 to $8,500.00) and found the Placette most musically satisfying in my system. However, the Joule-Electra was recommened by a few people and I bought one sight/sound unseen/unheard. I'd done this before and was always able to sell for a small loss if not happy; however, the Joule is staying - it's superb. I do miss the Placette's excellent remote volume control and was curious if anyone used it as such and not as the line stage.

Sdatch, were the cables between the amps and the Placette short? I'm no expert on impedances and input sensitivity etc, but I do believe in system matching and synergy. Guy told me that "the most important thing to look for in the amp (other than how it sounds) is simply can it be driven to full output with less than 1.5 volts or so at the input". I'm not sure how the Classe or the source fits in but I don't believe it is outside of what is considered the normal range although if I'm not mistaken, it might have slightly too little input sensitivity and requiring more volts to achieve full output.

In my system, where I have abalanced linestage, I am using a single ended source, so I'm only getting half the signal. On some recordings, one might want more gain. In addition, I previously had Bryston amps, which had an gain selector. Flipping the switch to the correct gain for single ended source was essential for enough gain to be had. I thought the problem might be something like what I experienced but it's obviously not the case.

Howie, the cables were short - 1.5 m Cardas Neutral Reference, actually the ones from my system. At the time we wondered if the difference in speaker sensitivity (94 db in my system, 88 db in his) wasn't somehow involved, in that could the amp's actual input impedance in his system be lower than nominal? Even as we approached unity gain, the system never got that loud.

you need a relatively high input impedence on your amps (mine are 40k) and your amps need to have adaquate gain. speakers sensitivity does enter into the equation as your amp gain x speaker sensitivity gets you SPL.

interconnects should be 1 meter or less.....although this is just another varible along with the others above. the output impedence and output voltage of your sources also is part of the equation.

as you can see.....use of a passive can be highly system dependent. i switched to the balanced version of the RVC to get additional gain for my low output cartridge and phono stage.

WHEN all is right passive does bring you closer to the music....there is less in the way.

YMMV