Preamps waste of money?

Have you tried those expensive pre amps in your system?
If you have and your results are as you are posting then who can argue with success.
Its really nice when all matches are lined up.

If you have the passive control in the amp then you can make it work and it will be difficult to find a preamp that will do better.

However having the volume control in the amplifier can be really inconvenient! This is especially true if you have more than one source.

If the passive control is not inside the amplifier then its the other way 'round- you won't find a passive that can do better (meaning: more transparent, more detailed, more impact, more musical) than a good active preamp.

The caveat is that not all preamps are created equal; IMO/IME a passive can be easily better than a preamp that does not have its ducks in a row. A good preamp however will control and limit the effects of the interconnect cable- IOW if you are hearing big differences between cables then you have a problem.

Exactly, I have a Goldpoint passive stepped attenuator inside the amp. I haven't come across any preamp outside the amp that is better.

What preamps have you tried?

In my system: Tap X autoformer preamp (own, very pure clean sound with exceptional high freq), LDR preamp (borrowed), Audio Research Ref 5 (borrowed), Gary Dodd battery powered tube buffer preamp (borrowed, very very good sound), Audible Illusions (owned), Threshold FET 9 (owned), and Placette passive (borrowed).

In other systems I am familiar with: Rowland Criterion, VTL TL 7.5, Atmasphere MP1, Bolder 2010, and Music First passive transformer preamp.