Passive Pre - No Regrets?

No regrets here. Went from a SFL2 to a DIY TVC. I bought the parts from John Chapman at Bent Audio, great guy. To be honest, I didn't think it could work. Seriously, transformers?! I just had to hear what so many were raving about.

The SFL did have a touch more drive and bass but I came to think of that as exageration. My speakers are eager to rumble at 16 Hz and the TVC was happy to oblige. Compared to the veil that was lifted, the SFL didn't have a chance. The trick is that I have very dynamic speakers and about 3000 watts of amplification, total. I also selected a CDP that has 4V into AES/EBU and low output impedance(< 100, although < 1K is all that's suggested). XLR cables between the pre and amps also raises the output. Amps aren't much of an issue for matching other than moderate sensitivity. A friend built his own after hearing mine and is very happy. His system isn't nearly as extreme but very nice.

With passives, resistive or TVC, matching components becomes critical.

Actually, I have compared autoformer vs TVC. It's really simple when you wire your own. Just use one side. To be honest, it was a mistake and was supposed to be a mute switch. Being a switch, I could compare instantly. I thought the difference between the two was almost negligable. The autoformer did have a slight advantage in the bass but the ability to use both RCA and XLR inputs swung the vote to TVC.

I've also had the opportunity to compare silver versus copper windings with a friend's TVC. Silver worked better with tube amps and soft domes but I preferred the copper with SS and ribbon tweeters. Odd, since I've always favoured silver or silver plated IC's.

Over the years, I have also tried passive pots and attenuators in various configurations but I haven't tried the Placette. There was a big difference between pots I tried and a simple resistor in line. Don't ask me why. I have never directly compared the attenuator to the TVC.