Best Sounding Passive Preamp

BENT was the best of all I tried, till I tried the LSA, but certainly at the pinnacle of passive options, and likely the best TVC (like the AVC even better), plus a lot more flexibility than the LSA which is a little hairshirt, but....

Pubul57,

Interesting. I purchased the LSA recently and have been A/B'ing it against the Tap-X. It is very close but in my opinion I find the Tap-X has slightly better drive in my system at least and produces a more open soundstage.

Are you running very short interconnects between the LSA and your source and between LSA and amp? Would be interested to hear your thoughts on how to get the best out of the LSA.

Thanks

James

Short ICs with low capacitance (Cardas GR). By the way, Clio9 has started an LSA Forum at his new website for electra-fidelity.com - A good gatheirng place for LSA fanatics to share ideas. I can very easily see someone using the BENT for life and being very, very happy, especially getting off the merry-go-round:). In fact, I might buy one again, I do miss remote and balance control - it certainly would be at the very top of my list for passives to consider, though I'm not sure if John is still selling them; that is not clear to me as it seem he wanted to sell to OEMs.

The DIYHiFi Django AVC (Silk autoformers) I'm using is the best passive I've tried - including 3 transformer based units and a couple of "pots in a box" (built my 1st in '85). Does VERY little to the signal and is very flexible in its utility. It's a keeper!

Doak, have you tried anything with the Slagle autoformer? I noticed I preferred the Slagle AVC (Bent)to the S&B MKII (K&K TVC). Funny that John at BENT switched from S&B to Slagle due to S&Bs actions, but I think it was also made for a better (relative term as both were excellent)sounding piece.