Who is using passive preamps and why?

I am not aware of one single amplifier manufacturer that designs a matching passive preamp to compliment their amplifiers.
If you want to select components, speakers and wire around a volume control it's ok with me. I prefer the sound of an active preamp because it sounds like music.

There is at leat one fella that designs a passive preamp around his amps, Roger Modjeski if Music Reference - a "simple" resistor-based attenuator - of course it is house with an active phono stage. He is adamant about the superiority of a passive linestage, which get's my attention knowing is perfectly capable of designing any kind of premaplification he wants. I still use an active preamp with his amps though....

I remember Mr McCormack saying his amps were designed with a high input impedance so they would work well with passive and tube preamps. After talking with him several time about preamps I got the feeling he prefers the sound of passives, though he will tell you there is a difference in the way the two present the sound. Its just a matter of how you like your sound (do you prefer your coffee with creme or without). I was at that point at one time, I liked the slam or greater impact in the bass region that his active offered but I also liked the openness that the passive had. The Ultra upgrade to my TLC gave me both, at first I thought it was the buffered output but then I remembered trying that before the mod and it wasn't the same.

Phd, I have no intention on selling any of my gear I've worked to hard and sacrificed to much to get where I am with it today. Plus I like the flexibility I have with the McCormack gear in my two channel/Home theater setup.

I would like to apologize to everyone one for the bad grammar in my earlier post, I thought I read through it better. I promise no more drinking and posting. The good thing is I don't have to worry about he telephone polls jumping out in front of my words. LOL

Great conversation everyone and Happy Listening.

Now I read my post, and I wasn't even drinking. Next Agon upgrade -- spell checking.