Placette RVC review in Stereophile

This looked like a filler article to me. It also reminded me of the short TAS reviews. Sort of the abridged versions or abstracts.

Stereophile did a short one like that on the VTL MB-450s a few months ago. I got the impression they do these on products they like that have been around awhile and have already been reviewed.

i agree that the review in question is quite short. but i believe that the point of the review was that this unit is so cheap (and has a 30 day money back policy) that you can't afford no to try it (assuming you can use short interconnects from the RVC to your amps) considering it's amazing performance.

his point on dynamics was that he percieved 'trade-offs' but not necessarily shortcomings. in some cases an active pre will allow more bass slam but at the expense of articulation and speed. so far i prefer the overall dynamic performance of the Placette to any active pre (with the possible exception of the CTC Blowtorch).

i have used the Placette RVC for over 2 years. to my ears, in my system, it has clearly bettered EVERY active preamp i have tried (6 or 7 mostly in the $10k to $15k range) without dynamic shortcommings (except compared to the CTC Blowtorch). i have also compared the RVC to other passives (including transformer and autoformer based) and preferred the RVC clearly (except the Silver Rock which had sonic tradeoffs but also no remote).

if your system has a natural balance without the need for the added 'something' that EVERY active pre adds.....you need to try the Placette. that 'added something' gets between me and the music.....at least to my ears.

Even though it was a very short review, the author was clearly more than just impressed with the performance of the simple volume control. He admitted he was stunned to the point of completely rethinking his listening priorities.

Like BD, I also found replacing an active linestage with the Placette (Passive Linestage) had the most profound impact on sound quality in my system. I can run directly from the CDP, with a manual volume control, to the amp, but there is still a significant improvement with the Placette in the chain providing a more three dimensional sound. The added convenience of a remote control with zero sonic degradation is another bonus.

Placette does not advertise very much if they do at all. Getting even a couple of pages in Stereophile can mean a lot to a small company. Maybe BD will have a more detailed review since he plans to test the Passive and Active linestages soon.

The Placette Active was given a full and glowing review in TAS a few years back. The company regularly runs full-page ads in TAS and Stereophile and has for two years or more.