Passive Pre-amp: Improves overall sound quality??

Yes a lot has been written about the passive/active debate.

In a nutshell, the math (on which all electronics is based) goes against you when you run a passive system. The Lightspeed is no exception. You can improve the situation slightly by using setups that operate at lower impedances, but then your source has to support that operation, which is not something universal to say the least.

OTOH active line sections with marginal design will be easily beaten by a passive setup. So if you want to boil it down, on the cheap use passive, if you want the best you will have to go active.

Lets list what a preamp does:

1. source selection
2. voltage gain
3. attenuation
4. buffering (impedance matching)
5. tone control (older preamps,typically)

Let's get rid of #5 for now- passives don't have them, most good line stages don't either.

To that list we can add 'control (and limit) the effects of the interconnect. So:

1. source selection
2. voltage gain
3. attenuation
4. buffering (impedance matching)
5. control the effect of the interconnect cable.

The the latter 2 aspects are not served by any passive or transformer device. If you have ever heard the difference a cable can make, then you might appreciate that if the preamp is doing its job, the difference between a $100 cable and a $10,000 cable could be rendered inaudible. Now some people want to pay for the cable so that they can say that they did that, but if you are not one of those people you might consider that you can get the same or better performance without that $10,000 cable if your line stage is built with that ability in mind.

I find the colouration of uncontrolled cables to be unacceptable in any system. Sure it sounds transparent, but where is the body and impact? Not making it to the amplifier is the answer. To get around this problem people with passives will spend of lot of time and money sorting out the cable issues as best they can. So if you are thinking passive or TVC, keep in mind that the interconnect is the hidden and mandatory cost.

Brownsfan, I think I agree with you; I have seen this, but really I used that example to make the point but it was also something I had experienced (BTW the person that had those cables was ecstatic that he was able to sell them and actually have better sound at the same time).