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 sogood51

Agree with Ozzy, passive in a system that takes advantage of it's (passive) advantages is very hard to beat.

I had a passive (using S&B trannies) also and the sound quality was steller in every area.

A system/room change led to much less than ideal conditions for the passive so I sold it and moved back to active.

I wound up going to my first tubed active pre-amp (Audioprism Mantissa) as I could not find an active SS design I could afford... or listen to for very long...outstanding mid-range quality will spoil you and is something the passive brought to my system...much like the almost passive Mantissa does.

Dave