2. amps-preamps
  3. 1268737214

Who is using passive preamps and why?

Seldom has there been any discussions on passive preamps in the forums and although my experience with them has been limited I have found them so far to be very enjoyable and refreshingly different. They seem to fall into their own category, somewhere between solid state and tube. Finding a preamp that is satisfing has been difficult. Some active solid state preamps can be very good but they seem to inject grain to some degree in the upper registers and some tube preamps are not too far behind. So far I think they should at least be matched up with an amp that has sufficient gain which is often overlooked. Which passives are you using and with what amp? Why do you like them?
phd
ig316b
104 posts
 
“03-16-10: Phd TVAD, you have the ultimate preamp! The VRE-1 is very spendy but beautiful and one day I will own one even if I have to wait.”
Phd if you would like a preamp that is as Mr. McCormack puts it “right up there with the best” might I suggest you try the McCormack TLC-1 with the Ultra upgrades from SMc. I had this upgrade done on my TLC-1 Deluxe and the difference was night and day. With the stock TLC lack of dynamics was not a concern (as far as going from quite to load passages), I had that in spades with the pair of DNA-1 mono-blocks, what did concern me was the lack of drive in the base region, it seemed like the slam was lacking when compared to the active output of my Micro Line Drive with Gold upgrades. At one point I had considered getting an ALD-1 for a comparison to see which I would prefer. The TLC Ultra completely eliminated any of these concerns. I guess this could be accounted for by the fact that to use the step attenuator that Steve builds, he has to convert the passive output to a buffered output. I had tried both the passive and buffered on the stock TLC and it wasn’t quite the same. The TLC Ultra is leagues’ ahead of the stock TLC, so much so that you start to question what else in your system could be hindering the sound.
Anyway just a suggestion and food for thought if your interested.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Herman, any opinion on resistor attentuation versus transformer/autoformer passives? Anyone else? The consensus here seems to be TVC/AVC all the way, but that is not quite what I here when I talk to engineers....
phd OP
1,328 posts
 
Ig316b, I would agree with you about the TLC-1. I borrowed a CJ PF1 solid state preamp to see if this active preamp would actually sound better than the TLC-1. I gave it 24 hours of continous operation. It was a bit more dynamic but the TLC-1 sounded far better in the midrange/vocals but with a smoother (grain free) top end, also transparency was far better. Now this is the stock TLC-1, I can only imagine how good the TLC-1 would sound with the ultra upgrades. You already know that I like the McCormack products and still own one his amps as well.
clio09
3,364 posts
 
I used to think the TVC/AVC designs were better. The Lightspeed Attenuator changed that thinking. Again, it probably comes down to system matching, and of course the actual design and parts used, but my system can easily work with both types.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Anthony, you know what Roger Modjeski thinks, and he seems to know a thing or two about this stuff. One of the reasons I question the TVC/AVC avalanche of opinion. When are you going to sell me your Lightspeeds:)?
More to discover