Passive/Active preamps: pros and cons....


New to preamps...what are the advantages/disadvantages of passive or active designs? I will be only connecting one source (CD) to the pre...any thoughts? passive/active switch like the highly reviewed Adcom piece? any others come to mind? Also...in an active design...how much emphasis does the pre have in regard to the main amp signal?
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Showing 1 response by ozzy62

If your system is passive friendly (amp with high gain, low input sens., appropriate source, and reasonably efficient speakers) then there are absolutely no drawbacks at all to my ears in using a transformer based passive attenuator. I have a custom preamp using S&B trannies and it has bettered many other preamps, mostly tubed and a couple of passives, in my system. It has the body and weight of a tubed device, but the transparency you expect of a passive. And hands down the best bass of any active preamp I have heard.

Oz