Audiomadness. Thanks for the clarification - it makes sense to me now. There is obviously a lot of different experiences out there regarding the use of passives (I did not really know what they were 8 weeks ago). In my system I don't think an active can work better then the Placette. The speed, transparency, seperation of instruments, dynamics, bass etc - seems to all be there (an no maintenace). Not that I'm not wondering about the Placette Active, or what a TVC approach might do. But I think the CAT pre that I had and just sold must be considered one of the better active preamplifiers on the market, and in terms of sound quality I am more than satisifed having made the switch. My sense is that passives are "cult" items for the same reason that low wattage SETs are. In the right system they are magic, in the wrong system they can be less than inspiring. They requiring more thought in system building. I have enjoyed finding a low cost, SOTA alternative to active pres - perhaps the passives are less flexible, can't be universally applied, but with the right system approach, they are more than worthy contenders. I'd like to thank everyone for their input and experiences. It has been an interesting experiment. But, what about that Placette Active...
