Gotta love Nelson Pass

It’s all about the design Implementation and the overall parts quality second.Less = More for Sure.

Kenny.

So, First Watt conversation, excellent!!! How many people have a SA/4e?  Or have owned?

Seems like it become addictive when someone buying First Watt stuff. I decided to buy another preamp for my FW F2J power amp. 

Soon i will be able to compare my FW B1 Buffer Preamp and Pass Aleph L. 

After 7 month of using my B1 i realized that i need at least 4 inputs to switch between different phono stages. The B1 has only two inputs, the Aleph L has 4 inputs. 

Another reason to buy Aleph L was the second output which can be used for an active SUB if i will buy Zu Undertone sub for my Druid speakers. 

It was not easy to find the latest version of Aleph L which is passive if the volume control knob position is not higher than 3 o'clock. I'm sure that i don't need an active gain in my system, because even with B1 buffer preamp i only use 10-20% of the volume control. It was hard to imagine that less than 5 watt Power Amp (F2J) is more than enough for 101db speakers in my big room. 

if someone compared the same preamps (First Watt B1 and Pass Labs Aleph L mkII) please share your experience. 

thanks 

chakster I’m sure that i don’t need an active gain in my system, because even with B1 buffer preamp i only use 10-20% of the volume control.

If that’s right B1 has no gain, you don’t need any gain,
BUT! your FW F2J is only 2kohm input impedance this doesn’t bode well for any passive or tube preamps, even your B1 has 1kohm output impedance, which is not a good look either into the 2kohm of the F2.

You really need a low gain preamp with an output impedance that’s below say 250ohm output impedance for this amp. You could look at the Schiit Ferya low gain with solid state output is 75ohm and the tube output is 210ohm, forget the passive output. Remote, excellent volume pot, cheap! and you can return it.
http://www.schiit.com/products/freya
Cheers George