Is Preamp overkill for me?

Modwright SWL 9.0 hybrid linestage. Very high quality, incredibly transparent.

If your going to be buying an amp anyway (sounds like you are), then just buy one that mates well with a PVC...their are tons of them.

I used a Bent Audio passive for around a year in one of my systems and it was outstanding in every way...of course it should have been because the system components all had good specs. for passive use.

A good passive setup can equal and even better a good tubed preamp in midrange quality...

Dave

Get a Django transformer volume control. There are two versions, one based on amorphous core transformers and one based on Stevens & Billington transformers. There's a listing here. I have no association with the sellers. But I own one. It is the most surprising piece of audio equipment I've encountered in 30 years of audiophilia. It's hard to go back to ANY active preamp once you've spent time with one of these and after the transformers are run-in. It also includes a +6db gain option if your source output is a little low for the input sensitivity of your power amp. It works especially well with high input impedance tube amps but for all the worrying about lower input impedance sand amps, I've found it to work great there too.

The Django TVC will give you better low level dynamics and detail retrieval than directly driving you power amp with a source.

Phil