Who is using passive preamps and why?

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

Pubul57, I don't have any direct experience with attenuators (though have done quite a bit of research on them). I have a long tome audiophile friend who has helped me for many years suggesting and auditioning gear. We have listened to alot of music together, live and recorded, and, not only do I trust his ears, but he has guided me a great deal into trusting mine. He uses attenuators - and has had the Ayre KXR, ARC Ref 5, Lamms, etc. While he says the preamps are excellent, and urged me to audition them, he uses attenuators (he only cares about sound, not how great expensive gear looks in his racks, convenience, etc). I was considering passives as my CD player was overloading my active preamp, but when I experienced the sound of my CD player direct into the amps, I just cannot believe adding any component (+ cables, etc) into that signal chain could possibly be an improvement. My decision based solely on how incredible it curently sounds and basic electronic theory. I feel the least manipulation of an audio signal, the best. While a passive would not necessarilly manipulate (definately not amplify, which usualy always distorts)the signal, it does add cables, etc (either transformers, resistors, etc) into that signal chain (and must be compatable with the rest of the gear in the chain). My turntable/preamp and my SqueezeBox/Dac still go into my active preamp - they did not sound as good direct into my amp (actually an external crossover) so definately compatability issues there. The CD player & crossover just seem to match perfectly. I really urge everyone with a CD player (or DAC) with a volume control to try the direct connection. You may be as surprised (actually, I was floored) as I was, and stil am. If I did not have volume capabilities on my crossover, I would already have a passive in my system.

I am not aware of one single amplifier manufacturer that designs a matching passive preamp to compliment their amplifiers.

Three manufacturers were mentioned in this thread: Roger Modjeski - Music Reference, Jack Elliano - Electra Print, and Jeffrey Jackson - Experience Music.

Also, a number of manufacturers have implemented passive volume controls in their integrated amp designs. A couple that come to mind are Vinnie Rossi - Red Wine Audio and Paul Weitzel - Tube Research Labs. Ralph Karsten at Atma-Sphere offers a passive volume control upgrade for his OTL designs too.

I prefer the sound of an active preamp because it sounds like music.

Rrog, once again a dogmatic statement that fails to take into account all factors. If you want to say you've never heard a passive that sounds like music then it appears that would be true, but I guarantee you they do in the right system as many have stated in this thread. Are you saying you have golden ears and all of us, and there are many thousands, who prefer passives in their systems don't hear well?

Pubul, attenuate means to reduce or weaken so any volume control whether resistive or inductive is an attenuator. For some reason you usually see that term with stepped resistor controls and not with TVCs but they are both attenuators.

.

Herman, part of you thinking is that passives in the right system are superior to actives, I wonder if it might also be true that passive resistor based attentuation is superior to tranformer or autoformer passive attentuation IN THE RIGHT SYSTEM, due to the much simpler design, or is the impedance matching that comes from TVC/AVC is simply almost always better in most systems. Modjeski, who I obviously think highly of, argues for resitor based attenuation, but that flies a bit in the face of what you will hear from most Agon passive adopters. Now Roger actually has an explanation why that I can't understand:), but it does seem to be based on some knowledge of electrical engineering of which I know almost nothing.