Passive Pre - No Regrets?

I came across Dave Slagle via Thom Mackris at Galibier Design. Thom was very impressed with the autoformer Dave built for last years RMAF. Lynn Olson recently reviewed the Monarchy M24 DAC/preamp and used the autoformer in the review system. He gave the combinaton a glowing review. I certainly give both these gentleman a lot of credibility. I myself own an S&B TVC custom built for me by Kevin Carter. I have heard the Sonic Euphoria and did not like it as much as my TVC, but when I'm at RMAF this year you can bet I'm going to see what it will take to get my hands on a Dave Slagle autoformer.

Resistor-based passives, TVCs and autoformers all have their place. Just like anything in audio it all comes down to a well thought out and executed design. There are many fine flavors to choose from and that what makes this hobby fun for me.

I wasn't dawging the PLC..only pointing out. One shouldn't confuse the two. Whether one is superior to the other is in the ear of the beholder. Hey Jsadurni..if the Promitheus doesn't work out for you. I'll buy it from you for what you paid for it. I already know the out come..once you get it, I'll have to pry it from your cold dead hands!LOL

Good listening

Herman wrote:
"I don't see this as a drawback as the issue with DC is no different if you use a resitive voltage divider of some sort."

But, both Autoformers and resistive pres are significantly different than a TVC in that regard. Galvanic isolation means that no DC will pass through the TVC at all. Of course, I think most sources have a capacitor near their output specifically for DC blocking.

Anyway, it's best to absolutely sure that no dc is being passed by all sources before making that very expensive leap of faith.

Another major TVC advantage(if needed), is that they can easily convert single-ended signals to fully balanced for driving very long XLR cables with little signal degradation. A big advantage when your equipment rack is on one side of the room and amps next to the speakers on the other.

Actually, I have compared autoformer vs TVC. It's really simple when you wire your own. Just use one side. To be honest, it was a mistake and was supposed to be a mute switch. Being a switch, I could compare instantly. I thought the difference between the two was almost negligable. The autoformer did have a slight advantage in the bass but the ability to use both RCA and XLR inputs swung the vote to TVC.

I've also had the opportunity to compare silver versus copper windings with a friend's TVC. Silver worked better with tube amps and soft domes but I preferred the copper with SS and ribbon tweeters. Odd, since I've always favoured silver or silver plated IC's.

Over the years, I have also tried passive pots and attenuators in various configurations but I haven't tried the Placette. There was a big difference between pots I tried and a simple resistor in line. Don't ask me why. I have never directly compared the attenuator to the TVC.

The Placette has arrived. I don't and won't rush to judgement - I plan to A/B with the CAT for 2-3 weeks. I can say that it is certainly competitive, and on first blush I think it might be better. I do not notice any diminishment in bass or dynamics which I was looking for. It is quiet. The music seems to be very clear and localized - that is I hear clear delineation between the location and source of a sound. Microdymamics are fantastic, instrumental or vocal inflections (what I think expresses emotion)is superb. I impressed that at this point I can't say the CAT is better, a pretty good sign for a $1000 unit - true, there is no switching facilities and can't drive long, high capacitance cables - but you know, you could defintely live with this thing in a high end, single source system. To say the least I am impressed. I would certainly recommend that this piece be auditioned and compared with top of the line active preamps (the CAT has to be one of the better ones). It is making me awfully interested in hearing Placette's no-gain active - I think Placette's desinger is on to something, and it might be that Vishay-based volume control . Well, I'm going to listen to this for a while, but darn it sure has made a good first impression.