Hattor Audio preamps?

I don’t now why the normal rules wouldn’t apply - passives work best being fed a low input impedance signal (<200’ish ohms) then output to a high impedance amplifier input (>50K ohms) and being positioned so the output IC only needs to travel a short distance to the amplifier (<1.5M).

Even if you meet those guidelines, some (but not all) still find their passives lacking in tonal body and drive that active stages seem to provide.  The only passives I didn’t have that issue with were AVC types.

@ozzy62 earlier in the thread you had mentioned that you had a Don Sachs preamp; I've only heard good things about Don Sachs. I know you and @mitch2 have Aric Audio amps and Hattor preamps, but was curious if you had tried Aric's preamps. I'm a little torn between Don Sach's, Aric Audio, and Hattor for a preamp which would be matched with a Aric Audio Transcend Push Pull (preamp bypassed). Regardless of the answer, this thread has been extremely informative. 

I did own one of Don’s preamps and it was very good. I sold it when I went to an Allnic integrated amp. When I decided to go back to separates I thought I’d try the Hattor and I’m glad I did, it’s a great pre. I’ve owned many active and passive line stages and I always come back to passive because I favor high sensitivity speakers and tube amps, which is where they shine. I honestly think if your system is passive friendly, there aren’t many actives that can sound better. Again, that’s my opinion.

Ive owned them all. TVC, AVC, LDR and resistor passives. All are good and will beat most actives in the right circumstances.

@toro3 

"I know you and @mitch2 have Aric Audio amps and Hattor preamps"

@ozzy62 has Aric Audio amps but not me.  I have a pair of 650wpc monoblocks made by SMc Audio using formerly McCormack DNA-1 amps as a starting point.  Actually, I believe the only parts used from the DNA-1s were the chassis and heatsinks!  Mine are the black pair at the bottom of the first grouping of pictures on the home page.  

Although my custom built Khozmo volume controller is passive, I send the signal thorugh a unity gain buffer based on SMc's VRE-1 preamp circuit.  My system is basically the opposite of Ozzy's system that uses high sensitivity speakers and tube amps.

Oh my goodness. Apologies @mitch2. This entire time while reading this thread I had you mixed up with another member who has a somewhat similar user name, but was helpful when discussing Aric Audio and Tannoys in a private conversation many months ago. @ozzy62 thank you for the candid response. Very helpful!