Hi, I picked a Reference Line Preeminence One passive preamp here on Audiogon back in Jan of this year. Its been a revelation over the past 8months. During this period I've had several other preamps in and out (both tubed and SS, dealer loan and friends), I don't see myself ever going back to active. Reference Line is currently not back in business, they were sold to a gentleman in N. Carolina. When I last spoke with him (Scott) he was working on bringing them back. If this unit ever goes on me and I can't get it fixed I will have to go for a Placette passive or Monolithic, thats how hooked I am on the clarity and detail of passive. The Monolithic btw received an excellent review in Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, you can read it online at their site. My Ref Line One has all internal silver wiring,direct input option, plus volume remote, I paid $700 used, I've seen remoteless units for $500. Anyway, regardless of what unit I compared to the passive in my system they ALL seamed _veiled_, and significantly so. Did I say seemed?, they were veiled compared to the passive. I have detected no loss of dynamics whatsoever, in fact I've been startled by my system as much as ever on music. I also noticed that I could listen at higher levels without worrying about glare or grain ,somehow it seems as if reduced to none existant,compared to before.Conversely the amount of detail and rock solid images at low levels blows me away too. Soundstage as wide as any of the tubed-preamps I auditioned, and as I said no detectable loss of dynamics. A recently purchased VPI turntable, Rotel 971(X-10 buffer) feed the Ref Line passive which feeds a Proceed HPA-2 through a pair of Vandersteen 1C's with 2 2W subs. I'm running 1 meter interconnects all the way around with the exception of a pr of 5 meter interconnects from an AV switcher which feeds one of the Ref line's inputs for HT. Based on my experience with this (my first) passive, I must rave and encourage you to audition (try,whatever) passive. BTW, I've only heard the original VR-4, which blew me away with its imaging,dynamics,soundstaging. If the 2nd generation is as good (I assume it would be), I'm sure you won't be letting them go for a very,very long time.
PASSIVE Preamp and LIFELESSNESS?
I have read alot of internet posts and opinions on Preamp and the prevailing train of thought for Passive Preamps is that they are very transparent, open, almost spooky in thier low noise floor, but that they suck out the life of music. I understand why an active may be better because they have the gain needed to drive long cable runs. But if your amplifier and preamplifier are close enough and have agreeing impedences and specifications then the passive would "seem" better than an active preamp. I am confused about the way a preamp is supposed to work in this particular situation, because I thought (not deeply, albeit)a Preamp passive or active was only supposed to pass the signal from input to output as "untouched" as possible? Having no preamp at all would be ideal, if you needed only one input. Wouldnt the Passive Preamp be the better of the two evils (active/passive)? I am asking specifically because I am at the crossroads of upgrading my system. I have a pair of Von Schweikert VR-4 originals and I need a new preamp, amplifier, and DAC to use with a Pioneer DV-414 transport. I would like to be as minimalist as possible which is why I am asking about passive preamps. Monolithic has a hybrid unit that is passive until you hit hit a certain point on the volume control and then the volume control becomes active. Cool, but no remote. Adcom has the unit that is leading my race right now with the the GFP-750, which has the best of both worlds, acitve and passive. I encourage any positive or critiqing comments on my system selection or concerning the topic at hand. The only thing I am concrete on it the speakers, I LOVE THEM, they are staying. Thanks for your time.