How much do I need to spend to get a preamp that sounds better than no preamp?

@mrdecibel 
Na... I'd much rather make friends than not. I kinda feel bad seeing George lose his mind because he doesn't know how a thing works. I'm not afraid to play with cables because I've made my own to see. I just don't indulge in snake oil. You, George, and few others seem to enjoy attacking me for learning, building, and restoring some stuff. Kinda sad really. Sounds like bullying to me. I'm not doing that to people. George and you are going ape for what? Because I'm waiting for Ralph to explain the Aleph L to George? That doesn't seem like a crazy over-reaction? And I'm hardly the only one who thinks the few harsh critics of the Kanta 2 are way off base. 

Because I'm waiting for Ralph to explain the Aleph L to George?

If he does, it better be the same as what Nelson sent to me a couple of days ago when I emailed him about it, otherwise your both out there with the fairies.

Just go and have another drink, and stop being such an agitator.

Cheers George 

@georgehifi 
I'm sorry. I really am. I really feel bad you're this worked up. I think you've got an idea of how the thing works burned into your mind that doesn't reflect the circuit, the reality, or what the man has said. If I'm wrong I'd really like Ralph to set me straight. I've listened to Pass speak for hours and read gobs of his articles and writings. I'm imagining him saying what you've posted him saying with a big projection of that diagram on the wall behind him. I'm not getting the understanding you seem to. I really just want you to understand what you're looking at in that schematic, hear what the man is saying, and think it through on your own. You're missing the understanding of the circuit! If I had the money I'd pay you to build the thing just so you'd learn it! 

kosst, believe me when I say I am not going ape. As I said, I find your argumentative nature annoying, but amusing, and actually look forward to your next " outburst ". I cannot speak for George.  Enjoy ! MrD.

I think your the one that needs to lay off the false claims about passives with blanket statements about their ability to drive ect ect. Every time they are bought up, your on it to protect active preamps.
Here is a person you should kneel to as he is one who makes active preamps for a reason which I’ve outlined, yet he is man enough to tell what it is about passives that’s the real deal. You just deny them as a whole, just like the "detriments" of a certain autoformer.

I have math to back me up on all my claims. I have also been careful to point out that passives can work fine if one is careful in the setup.

You are protesting just a little bit too loudly...
I've got nothing bad to say about Nelson- he is a brilliant designer and I often point out in my posts that he makes some of the best solid state gear out there.

Its my opinion that its a lot harder to build a solid state preamp that's going to sound right; Nelson does a pretty good job but maybe his passives are showing up some problems with his active preamps (if not, you are the expert on his quotes- you figure it out). Our customers seem to think our gear sounds better (probably why they are our customers instead of someone else's...), but we have a lot of customers that run Nelson's amps with our preamps: we have customers in common. And we are on good terms with the folks at Pass Labs.

Saying that everyone that sells active preamps is just in it for the money and somehow that someone selling passives isn't is as hypocritical as it gets.

IOW, you just attack active preamps because you want to sell more. Its not because your gear works any better!
So how does that feel George?

That's the sort of crap that you lay at other's doors. The simple fact is, I have no idea what your motivation is (just as you have no idea of my motivations), I wrote that accusation so you can see how it feels. I've heard  the Lightspeed and it works fine in the right circumstances. I keep trying to be reasonable with you but you  keep going off like a five dollar pistol. Perhaps you can tone it down a little- I can easily demonstrate situations where an active works with less coloration than a passive, and I can demonstrate situations where a passive offers no coloration as well.
Its all in the setup.

I **know** you know that.

Lay off the crap.