Unity gain with tube buffer?

Hello Pubu57

The simplest thing is to ask Nicolas at Promitheus directly. Of course they use TVC - and thus why their volume control is so good (at least for money there is no equal)!!!!! Gain of 6 dB will not kill you since my translation of what you asked - "can I have a tube preamp without gain stage" and answer is yes, you can.

On other hand, if Atmasphere will build one - this probobly will be the best around

All The Best
Rafael

If Ralph builds one I will definitely be interested, especially since one of my amps is a pair of Atma-spheres and I assume it will have balanced connections. Clio9, I also spoke with Roger Modjeski who said he is looking into building just such an amp as well, and wood matched with my RM9SE -- so I may very well end up with an Atma and Music Reference version of these "tube buffer" amps. The Pass B1 Buffer pre we saw at RMAF was pretty impressive with the F5 amp. As an aside (the more I hear about your Kinesis speakers the more interested I am, they souned fantastic with the Atma-speheres at the show)

Talk to Ralph about the Audio Kinesis speakers. He has some interesting things to say about them. My Jazz Modules should be here in the next couple of days. Looking forward to getting rid of speaker stands.

I read up a bit more on the B1. Seems pretty interesting and makes me wonder why more manufacturers haven't done this.

It just seems to me (complete electornic laymen) that if passives are better than actives in those areas where they are better, that a passive with buffer (Placette Active for example)would be better than active in those areas as well -especially if the buffer is battery powered (less distortion with no gain stage circuitry, and great S/N being off the grid). Ralph's argument for the active seem to be generally based on the ability to control and drive the interconnect - I'm not sure why this buffered approach would serve that purpose without the need for gain that is not generally needed for digital sources.

With resistive passives controlling the interconnect is more critical. TVCs and AVCs less so (Ralph has this thing about transformers too - so that probably wouldn't be a convincing argument to him). However John Chapman's new design (6 input version) incorporates a buffer stage that can be turned on/off for each input. He comments that using it would be in extreme cases where a source could not drive the passive. No buffer on the output though, which the B1 incorporates in its resistive passive design (along with the input as well). Interestingly enough John chose to just make his TAP resistive passive mini modules with short pigtails that you place near the amp, eliminating the long cable on the output. Not sure how this sounds, but it's similar to the concept of the EVS nude attenuators which you just plug into the amps inputs (I have a pair which I should revisit using).

I'd have to say Nelson Pass's design is interesting and could be worth a try. It's certainly priced right. Just wish it had balanced inputs and outputs. Also, noticed that Nelson commented that a regulated power supply would be better than battery.