I've built at least 15 passives of various kinds since giving up on a CAT SL-1 Signature with its truly horrible volume control, resistors on a rotary switch but not "true ladder", and recently built a TVC based on Stevens & Billington TX-102 transformers, a la Bent Audio. I thought I'd never improve on that, and maybe I still haven't, but I'm writing this to sing the praises of Vishay resistors, TX2352's from Texas Components, looking more "naked" than the Vishays I'd seen before. To save money, I did a shunt type, which I'd always rejected, but I realized that at fairly high attenuation levels, even -14 db, say, the "size" of the passive, Input to Output plus Output to Ground, changes little, and I certainly heard nothing bad. What I did hear was really good, and whether it beats the TVC in my system will take me a long time to decide, if indeed there's any clear verdict. Expensive with Vishays, but still miles below the cost of the S & B transformers. Anyone want details? Email me if you like.
Poll - Active vs. Passive preamp
Thought it might be interesting to see who's using a passive vs. active linestage. List your total system value and/or components as well.
Have been enjoying a Supratek for about 8 months now. It is indeed a killer unit. Today, for kicks, I put the Prometheus TVC back in the system - it is pretty astounding how good it sounds at 1/10th the cost. I was very impressed (again). I'll withhold further comments.
I'd previously concluded that almost all really good higher-end systems use an active linestage. I wonder how true that statement is.
Have been enjoying a Supratek for about 8 months now. It is indeed a killer unit. Today, for kicks, I put the Prometheus TVC back in the system - it is pretty astounding how good it sounds at 1/10th the cost. I was very impressed (again). I'll withhold further comments.
I'd previously concluded that almost all really good higher-end systems use an active linestage. I wonder how true that statement is.