Quote Originally Posted by brigrizzme
There are many preamplifiers out there. Why purchase one, if you have a nice enough amp? Buy a volume control or a passive pre and save $.
There are a number of matching issues. Passives are far more cable sensitive and require low capacitance runs which is difficult with long interconnects. If not, there can be a noticeable high end rolloff. Gain (as in having enough) is another potential issue. Naturally, if you have a phono source then you need both the phono EQ and a bunch of gain.

Having said that, I use passives on my two audio systems and use a preamp in one only for the phono source. I use short and very low cap cables. On the garage system, I cannot fully drive the power amp with the CDP. I don't consider that a problem because it plays loudly enough. That would not do, however, for my main system.

I find them to be of great benefit when the system is properly matched.

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