Passive Pre - No Regrets?

Thank you Teajay. I'll read the review. It would be worth it if the active was 10% better - we all accept diminishing returns at this end of the hobby. What tubed units were you audtioning at the time you chose to go with the Placette?

I spoke to Guy about my setup and I think it would be of interest to Merlin Speaker w/BAM owners. I'm feeding my DAC to the Placette RCV and that is connected to the BAM (Bass Augmentation Module running in battery mode)which is then connected to my amplifiers. The BAM has a 40 Ohm Input Impedance and a 100 Ohm Out put impedance and can put out up to 8-9 volts. Guy felt that with the BAM in my system, there would be very marginal improvements, if any, if I were to use his active. Apparently the BAM does a lot of good for this passive approach, which explains why I like it so much. My observations therefore might have to be taken in that context, although there are apparently other users of the Placette passive that like it quite a bit without the use of a BAM. I would say this, if you own a Merlin speakers and are using the BAM, you really owe it to yourself to try the RVC (he gives you a 30-day trial). I think you will be suprised by the results.

Pubul57, the tube preamps were the reference Lamm, Hovland HP-100 and Audio Research's reference before the Ref 3.

What you might find interesting is that I was discussing preamps with a dealer who is a tube "maven" about what would be worth auditioning in his opinion. When I asked him what preamp he uses in his home system, he laughed and said the Placette active line stage! He believed that it offered the best performance, even if it was not a tube based linestage. He also shared that all of his clients that auditioned the Placette kept it and traded in their tube preamps.

Teajay, that is a very impressive lineup of tube preamps. I think the CAT is up there too. I started this looking for a passive to try, but what has impressed my is the Placette focus on trying to build the "perfect" volume control. I'm going to continue to A/B with the CAT for a while, but either way I think this RVC is a keeper, especially at $1000.

Pubul57,

Wait until you get 100 hours or so on the Placette, bet things just get better and better. Take your pick as to whether passives actually "burn in" or it takes a little time to notice all the extra fine, subtle, details that get through. But, you should be able to notice things that never came through in recordigns before.

Enjoy! (and let's know how things develop)