Passive vs. active preamps

I've often thought about building a passive preamp, but so many items are going thru my system now that I couldn't spare the time. Then there are my speaker projects...

If you decide to build a passive, I have advice since I have a design for one that sounds better than the line stage of a CAT SL-1 III. Get a pair of Shallco "true ladder" attenuators from The Parts Connection (part of Sonic Frontiers) and four good RCA jacks--I use Kimber Ultraconnects--and a simple chassi of some kind, do internal wire with fine Litz wire (not Kimber AGSS, for example--I used that first), plan on switching inerconnects to change from CD to tuner or other source. You'll love the transparency if your sources hve good enough outputs.

Sounds pretty good, but "better than an SL III" is kind of a glib assertion. What's super duper is if your CD player already has a volume control.

serious bang for the buck. $ for $ will blow away active preamps. very natural sounding. much less harsh and digital sounding. phenomenal power and drive. At least try it for yourself. please see my post under system matching "theil cs7.2 and levinson amp and preamp" 3-12-00. And when your done making your preamp can you post the results for all of us. Thanks.

I have a Creek OBH-10 passive remote control and use it between my Camelot Arthur (last version) DAC and my CARY SLA-70 Mk II and PARASOUND HCA-1000 A. The high output voltage of Arthur (4 volts) works much better with the 150K input impedance of the CARY. Of course, the sound is very transparent and more musically detailed (with E34L tubes) but not as dynamic as driven by my Dynaco PAS-4 Pre. When fitted with Sovtek KT-88's in passive mode ther is a big, big difference in dynamics but less sweetness (correctable with proper cabling). My speakers are Paradigm Reference Esprit Bi-Polars connected with Straight Wire Quartets. Best results with interconnect are MIT Terminator 2 and Belden StarQuad (home brew). The Parasound with its lower 30K input impedance is much better off driven actively. Any experiences to share? Manny