Modern Linestages

First, thank you Swampwalker for the kind remarks.
An example of what the OP may have intended is the
Conrad-Johnson Classic Preamp. No frills, no remote, just a good product for two channel. Being sold at a reasonable(according to audiophile standards) price.
So yes it can be done, simplicity whether in audio or life never comes easy.

Charles1dad,

Well said and spot on based on my experience. Fact is a great active is the heart and soul and often times the difference maker or "magic" in my past systems.

Give me the "dinosaur" as it just sound sounds right! Modern sound (high end)to my ears is becoming far to threadbare sounding and lacking in body and weight. Details are fired at us often times forcing me away rather then drawing me into the music.

Grannyring,
Regarding the direction of some "modern" components your comments are astute. When I attend live performances(unamplified jazz groups) they consistently sound rather,full,rich,round toned and yes warm. Even when they play very fast tempo music it`s still very full bodied and preserves a sense of ease and density(same is true of classical music programs). What ever turn high end audio made toward the lean,clinical and thin tonality destination in the name of accuracy(their version of it, I guess). Well I`ll travel a different highway.Thanks, but no thanks.

My preference is for an active preamp but done as simple as possible. I chose CJ's ART and ACT 2.2 for my pres "first" because I like the way they sounded and "second" because of their design: Class A, only one gain stage, no negative feedback, and no cathode follower. For an active tube pre, that's pretty simple.

So here's a case where a pre is simple and expensive. I wondered if it was because they were the companies statement product and, in the ART's case, because only a limited production was made. I'm sure that's part of it but finding that, in the ART 3's case, it uses 32 Teflon caps at a cost of about 300 each. That alone works out to 9000 in just those parts. Does it need all those to work? No. But that was CJ's decision. Do I need to pay that much for a pre? No. But that's my decision.

Hypothetically: If someone was to invent a raw driver that outperforms every other driver in the world and cost 100 in parts....If he puts that into the perfect box that cost him 100 in materials....and if it takes him an hour to assemble it (we'll give him a 100 per hour rate)....Can he charge 300 for it? Can he charge 30,000? Yes and yes. First yes: If he's a Saint. Second yes: If there are people that will buy it at that price. In the latter case, I'm sure some people will wonder why he charges so much. The short answer is, "because he can". A better answer is: "It took years and a lot of money to develop this and I have a family and a business with overhead I have to take care of".

While I understand that passive pres are more system dependent than active pres, I find it interesting that some would suggest that simpler is better and yet choose a system that doesn't maximize the potential for a passive pre.