Placette

well, not to go against the tide here, but I was underwhelmed by the Placette Passive- and this was in a system with Wyetech Topaz Monoblocks. It was clean and clear, however for me anyway, lacked the harmonic texture and body I have heard in other preamps, in particular the Melody 1688, which in that same system was an eminently more musical preamplifying device.

The above being said, I do think Teajay is on to something, as I have found the TVC-based passives to exhibit more body than the resistor-based. I was particularily impressed with the Audiosector S&B TX 102-based Pre-T1 passive preamp- superb in every way, however, only missing what I term as the 'x' factor or that certain magic a great active tube preamp brings to the table.

I have just replaced my BAT-51SE with Placette RVC. The Placette sound MUCH more open and transparent, with VASTLY superior microdynamics. Make sure that it works in your system though, since any impedance mismatch will make it sound too thin (as some reported here).

If all goes well - it will be hard to find a better pre at ANY price.

One searches for "giant killers" in this hobby. Here you find the $1,000 RVC replacing a CAT SL1 (my system)and a BAT-51SE (Elberoth2)system. These are highly regarded, top of the line tube preamplifiers, and the RVC was at the very least competitive. If that is not a "giant killer" I don't know what is. And if you like the RVC, wait till you hear the Placette Active.