Best way to add remote volume control to tube pre.

zkzpb8--Thanks for that lead. That looks promising.

An external box is convenient, but if you want the best sound, take a close look at motorizing the internal stepped attenuator-- or perhaps even replacing the stock attenuator with a better attenuator in conjunction with a motor drive. Assuming you're handy, you could buy a great compact SMD attenuator like Goldpoint or DACT, together with a motor drive, and achieve better sound than you're getting now, at much less cost than a Placette or equivalent RVC, and without the degredation and cost of additional ICs.

The Placette Passive remote can be purchased for less than the Space-Tech unit on the used market and utilizes 1% matched Vishay resistors throughout. I'm certain if Space-Tech went to that expense(and attention to quality), they would advertise the fact. (http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1218574337) (http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1220293601)

The Placette is perfect for the application, I used one with a CAT SL1 Ultimate so I could have finer control the CAT's increments - I could hear no difference with RVC in the chain. Don't be suprised if the Placette alone sounds better than your tube pre though - it just might in a passive friendly system.