Another post about passive. Just try it, and, for a while. Believe me when I say, I had 2 preamps above an RP5 in sq, that colored the sound, held back details and information on my recordings, and unnaturally added balls and oomph to the music. Listen to SRVs " Tin Pan Alley ", a song many believe has been over played, but shows every attribute, and weakness, in a system.