High Quality Passive Preamp Recommendtion

You can forget all these above mentioned choices in MHO! For the money, performance, build, etc, you absolutely can't beat the Pass Labs Aleph L and Aleph P passive/active preamps!!! If you only need RCA in's/out's, then the Aleph L is all you need (and one sells on Audiogon right now, just listed, for $850!!!...was $2k). If you need balanced in's/out's, then the Aleph P is what your after! (one selling from a store with remote for $2300 on Audiogon currently!)
I've tried quite a lot of different passive unit's over the years, and these make the most sense!..and sound world class!(virtually not there!...and resolution a plenty). They're also build like a tank!! These Pass preamps are completely passive, until you get some way up the volume control, then active circuit kicks in!...still sounding terrific! I've, again, tried quite a few world class preamps, and these are the only solid state passives I'd consider if It were my money! Have fun...

I would recommend the Adcom 750. You can run it passive or active. You can find it for a nominal :)) price on A'gon. Sometimes I find the active does sound better, parties and such, old vinyl recorded at low levels, and so on. Plus it has a good remote. Still a Stereophile A rated, but what self-respecting tweak would buy Adcom?? Listen for yourself....

Another suggestion: the McCormack TLC-1 passive/buffered amp. Great piece --- available used $500-$800.

I second the adcom.I liked mine and am not sure if I should have sold it.I kept a Mac which was an overachiever.But the adcomn was flexible,fully balanced,and i thought my rig sounded better in active mode.But you could have best of both worlds and run it in passive.For $1250 it's a steal.

Hey AVD,

have you had a chance to compare the Placette, FT Audio, or Morrrison ELAD?

So far, I haven't found anyone who has. Nor can I understand why any magazine hasn't done a shootout.

If not, can you give a list of those you've tried and your impressions.