Integrated with passive preamp section. Good or bad idea, or both ?

Liz:

My old MF X-A1 as well as many of the Creek's as well as the Audio Refinement integrated.

And, this is just off the top of my tiny little pointed head.

The Ayre AX-7e integrated is a solid-state power amp mated with passive gain control and source selection. Love mine.

I thought the Gryphon Diablo 300 had a passive preamp section?
If I'm wrong, somebody please correct my statment.

"Integrated with passive preamp section: name one??Any... one."

I'll give you more than one; All Pass Labs integrateds.

If a passive control is built into a power amplifier or integrated amplifier, that's the best place it can be! By doing so, the designer is able to bypass most of the problems that make external passive controls problematic.


An early example of this is the Dynaco SCA-35 amplifier, which to this day is a great starter amplifier (of course, with refurbishment and updates). Essentially the only active circuits in it are the phono preamp and power amp sections- the volume, balance and tone controls were all passive and the power amp itself made up for their insertion losses.