Placette RVC review in Stereophile

Mr. Crump:

The Placette was never designed to sound a certain way in any particular system. It can't be used as a tone control. Our only goal was to build a Linestage that has no sonic signature of it's own. To be literally transparent. This applies to dynamics as well. You can insert a Placette in series between a Blowtorch and your power amp and the sound of your system will be unchanged since the Placette will accurately pass the coloration's of whatever Preamp it's being used with. I will be showing in Las Vegas next year with Bob Gross (Speaker Art) and will be happy to bring a Placette to your demo room and show how a Placette can "sound" just like a Blowtorch. Although the system will sound the same as it did without the Placette, it will gain remote control!

Guy

Guy,
Nice to hear from the "source". I have two components in my system that won't be changing anytime soon - Air Tight 300B amp and Placette passive volume control. It is so good that when I ordered and did the 30 day home trial, I knew it'd be staying 20 min after inserting in my system. I did the pre-requisite 2-3 day heavy listening (you know, all us audiophiles have sit with our faces scrunched up, trying to detect the action of the singer's lips and back of throat, check for proper chest sounds, the number of centimeters he/she is from microphone, the type of microphone, ad nauseum. Just read Stereophile and you'll see the importance of that stuff! However, last night I could easily realize Joni Mitchell's deep emotional involvement with her songs and Eric Clapton's relative lack of emotional involvment. All that other stuff was there but thank God it doesn't distract from the actual music. By the way, I could hear Joni's piano pedal action but found it meaningless - however, the softness of her key action was very meaningful.) all the while knowing this thing is not going back.

The Placette replaced an $8,300.00 C-J that has gotten 10 positive to orgasmic magazine reviews around the world. C-J is a great company, makes superb products, and has excellent customer service...but that pre-amp was just in the way compared to the Placette.

Hey, Guy! Good luck with that offer at the Las Vegas show!! Bet it doesn't happen but if so, also bet they claim your gear "destroys the sound". I think they all have too much emotional investment in their product. I still think Don Julio Anejo is the best tequila around, a friend claims 1800 Special Reserve is. Don Julio puts a smile on my face, 1800 doesn't so I don't buy it. Things are that simple.

Drubin: I see the symbiosis between magazine and manufacturer as a good service to audiophiles for the most part. The magazine needs gear to review and sell advertising at the same time the manufacturer needs the publication to inform the consumer of their products.

Although it is easy to be cynical of an editor's or reviewer's motives when giving the nod to a component, there is a trust built over the years between a reviewer and the readers. It just so happens that Brian Damkroger, the reviewer of the Placette RVC for Stereophile, has also reviewed the same speakers and cables I owned. The first review was of the speakers and he put into words what I had found to be true about them for months. Next he did a review of the cables I am still using which served as a good validation for my purchase decision. Now comes the Placette RVC review. If I did not already own the Passive, which is the identical volume control coupled with additional switchable inputs, and since he wrote the review, it would have caught my attention as something to consider buying.

One of the advantages a professional reviewer has is the opportunity to hear almost anything out there and a wider basis of comparison. Most amateurs are not able audition a wide variety of gear. A forum like this can be manipulated by amateurs, manufacturers, and dealers alike, with no accountability, in an attempt to create a market for a certain component or accessory. With that in mind, your guarded cynicism is a good thing and looking to other sources of information helps us find our way through the maze.

Has anyone heard the active Placette and preferred the passive. I'm now using an RVC, it replaced a CAT Ulitmate MKII (as I only have one hi-output CD source and no phono, and really do like the remote). The RVC is fed by a DAC and plugged into my Merlin BAM, which is a bass augmentation unit for Merlin speakers, and which has 50KOhm input and 200 ohm output impedance (in affect a buffer for the passive - I also use Cardas GR with exceptionally low capacitance). Guy suggested that in this setup, the active might not be much of an improvement. I wonder when the active would be an improvment, and when it would not. Having seen Mike's system in the Virtual section I know he could have gotten an active Placette if he wanted to, but chose not to; so I'm wondering about the difference and reasons for choosing passive versus active in the Placette line.

Pubul57, I have heard both and still believe in my system, that the Active was about 15% to 25% better sonicly then the the passive. But, as we know that last percent in audio still makes a big difference if you can hear it.

I was talking to a designer who has great respect for both the passive and active Placette pieces and the genuis of Guy Hammel's designs, he refers to the Active as a "buffered passive stage" that gives you the best of both worlds, out standing clarity/transparency of passive stages and the dynamics of an active stage.