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In Reply to: RE: Comparison of a few inline attenuators posted by Mick Wolfe on March 03, 2025 at 08:20:57
Your comment about the attenuators sucking life out of the music makes some sense to me. I have found that good "gain matching" between components will help with dynamics. This is one reason why passive attenuators don't sound quite right is some systems. Sufficient "gain matching" on the preamp & amp side seems to help with dynamics w/o the need for life killing inline attenuation.
As for passive preamps, the only passive setup that I had that sounded decent consisted of a CDP source that was especially 'hot' and robust on the output signal (Cary CD 306/200) and an amp with a good amount of gain along with speakers that were somewhat sensitive. I tried the passive preamp on more typical gear and it was a little lifeless.
What sucked the life out of the music for me was the hiss I got without 10 dB attenuators (PS Audio DS DAC Mk 2 - PS Audio BHK preamp - BHK 250 amp - GoldenEar Triton Signatures).
Too much gain with this combo. Noisy. The attenuators were a godsend.
I've since been using a Dennis Had Inspire 300B amp without the attenuators and found my sweet spot.
Too much gain can be a double edged sword.My first Class D amp was the PS Audio HCA-2. The early models had 30dB gain and worked great with a passive preamp. On the other hand, the background hiss was audible with an active preamp especially with somewhat sensitive speakers. Without announcing it PS Audio lowered the gain on newer versions of the HCA-2 amp.
On the Cary side, some of my favorite electronics came from Dennis Had including the budget friendly AES/Six Pac EL34 tube monoblocks. I thought the SLP-05 preamp was probably the best tube preamp I ever owned and I really enjoyed the Cary CD 306/200 CD player. (The 306/200 had a somewhat 'hot' and robust output signal making it a great source component for a passive setup).
Edits: 03/04/25 03/04/25
My current setup gives me "just enough" gain with my rather sensitive speakers. The amp is, of course, single-ended (RCA) with volume cranked up to 11 lol. The 8 WPC 300Bs and 6SL7 driver provide more-than-adequate gain in my small-ish LR.
Patrick McDonald, who was the engineer for the music (and has a part in the movie playing himself) for "This is Spinal Tap", taught me how to engineer a record.
I love that the "goes to 11" thing just won't die!
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
How about one of these?:
https://www.schiit.com/products/sys
They are supposed to be pretty clean.
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I use one for bi-amp setup.
I have no direct experience with the Schiit Sys but I've had a couple other Schiits including the Freya + and Kara. Both of these can be run in fully passive mode, buffered passive mode, but in my setup I much preferred them in active mode with gain.
The MAIN thing passives are known for is ultimate transparency but IMHO sometimes they sacrifice too much in other areas. They are very cable dependent and system component dependent, more so than when using an active preamp, so short cables and component matching with a passive are much more critical.
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The SYS is totally passive and has no effect on the sound when in the circuit. I use one to balance the ARC tube amp playing the mids and highs with a Mc transistor amp for the bass. Changing leads didn't change the sound so far as I could hear. I use this setup for music.
LowIQ
One correction on that passive preamp. It's max output impedance is 2.5k not 5k
Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"
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