Placette Passive Owners...

i have used my Placette with a few different preamps, also with the Audio Aero Capitole II. as long as the interconnect from the RVC to the amps is kept short the Placette seems to be transparent.

specifically, with the Audio Aero i found that if i used the had the volume control at 'full gain' (unity gain) and attenuated with the Placette RVC, the sound was more transparent, quicker, and less tubey.....more how i prefer it. to me this was exposing the volume control in the AA as limiting performance.

i also tried this with the Lamm L2 but in that case there was no difference whether the Placette was there or not. i either had the L2 'wide open' or the Placette 'wide open'.

i have also used it with the volume control in the Tenor intergrated OTL amps (75Wi). again, i could not hear a difference whether the RVC was there or not.

if you are trying this the volume control in the active gain stage must be 'wide open' and the Placette needs to have an interconnect to the amps 1 meter or less.

Listen to Mikelavigne he knows this well! my experiences with the placette active were amazing! Guy builds an incredible product.

Mike,
Thanks for the info! I was talking to a pre-amp manufacturer who said to install the RVC between the CD and pre-amp and not btw the pre and power amp. I see you did it btw pre and power amp and am wondering if it makes a difference. By the way, I will be able to use 1/2 meter of interconnect.

I have an Audio Research SP8 preamp and run it to a Placette Passive with a 1/2 meter Coincident I/C. I A/B compared it to not having the Placette in the signal path, and my ears could not discern a difference.

I chose to put the Placette b/t the SP8 and the amp because I also run a turntable into the SP8 and did not want to have the phono signal going into the placette before it gets to the phono stage in the SP8. I also have a Wadia 861 going directly into the Placette without going through the SP8 at all.

Bottom line is that I believe the Placette, when used with appropriate I/Cs, is virtually transparent.

In an experiment to prove its transparency, Placette actually recommends you placing the unit between your preamp and amps to see if you hear a difference in sound. Then you take out your preamp and then insert it back in between the Placette and amps to see if you now hear a difference. I don't know why you want to put another preamp in your signal chain but I probably would place it after your active preamp and have the Placette attenuate the volume.

Anyways, Like Mike said, as long as the cables connecting the Placette to the amps is short, then you won't have any problems. With a short interconnect from Placette to amps and a long interconnect from source to Placette, your system should sound as it should. But have it the other way around and use a short interconnect from source to Placette and a long interconnect from the Placette to the amps, and you'll suffer the loss of dynamics that is associated with passive preamps.

So judging from the results of my cable experiments described above, it was simply logical and really a requirement for me to place them close to the amps. Lengths from source to the Placette doesn't really matter so much and really minimizes inconveniences as you don't have to worry about keeping your sources close to the Placette.

I'm confident that placing the Placette in between the your active preamp and amps wouldn't do much to the sound, ie. the Placette will be transparent. What I am wondering is whether placing the Placette in between the source and active pre would improve the sound compared to the sound you get without the Placette. I am interested in hearing the results from your own experiments.