Who makes the best passive volume control?

Audio Consulting Signature series Silver Rock Potentiometer W/C37 laquer option and wooden knobs.

This is an old thread, but having tried many of the passives
mentioned, resistor, tvcs, and avcs, and since product have
evolved, I thought it worth mentioning and perhaps stirring
more discussion from other passive lovers, the very best
volume control I have had in my system is the Lightspeed
Attenuator with one contacts points, light depend resistor
(LDRs), and LEDs for controlling the amount of light. Not only
bettered the Placette, S&B TVC, and the BENT AVC in my system,
but any "preamp" I have had in my system including
some of the finest 5-7k tube line stages. It only has one I/O
and no remote, which might be a deal breaker for some, but to
my ears it is the best volume attenuation device on the market
- for $450 or so.

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Try the Luminous Axiom passive preamp. It can be had for about $150 brand new right here on Audiogon. It is very system dependent. Contact them and they build the unit according to your amp and speakers.
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Mitch, are you saying the Luminous is the best passive volume control, or just one to try? I did have two "pot/resistor" types from Music Reference and Goldpoint, as well as the Placette RVC - all of which sound very good, especially for the price, though the Placette is not cheap, but I did not like them better than the TVCs and AVCs I used, and at a higher price point. Neverthesless, the Lightspeed Attenuator was superior to the all, to my ears and my system. I don't know of any passive fans that has tried one that has not come to the same conclusion, it is the best passive volume control in passive friendly systems. If you are using the Luminous because you love passives and they work for you, do give the Lightspeed a try, there is nothing quite like it.

The Lightspeed is the best we have tried.

However all passives have certain limitations, and if you exceed those limitations, they will color the sound quite noticeably, and rob you of dynamic impact, regardless of how good they are.

The primary limitation is cable length. By the time the cable is even 6 feet long, the loss of bass and impact is easily heard. At full volume it will not be such a problem, but as you back off on the volume control, it will be very much like operating a sort of tone control that rolls off the bass. This is caused by an interaction between the output impedance of the source, the resistive value of the passive unit at the particular volume control setting, the characteristics of the cable and the input impedance of the amplifier. That's a lot of variables.

It is for this reason that you will see an on-going debate about whether or not active preamps can be more transparent and more dynamic, with greater bandwidth. Some active preamps are much better at this than others! In theory, the active line section should control the cable so that it has no artifact. In practice, this is rare although there are examples (most of them being balanced designs). However, if it does control the cable the passive will not hold a candle to it.