Passive pre-amp

[admin_exported]

Saw this on ebay Umm, passive? as in it requires no power? any good?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Looks like no more than a volume pot with inputs and outputs, plus some GCSE woodwork. Of course, it may sound fabulous, but it should be possible to build something similar for rather less, and with minimal electronics knowledge.

See here for some starting points...

 

[Thaiman]

One of the best system I heard was using Passive preamp. Although I don't know the one on Ebay I can highly recommend "Music First" preamp. or if you can find it, the Django amps are very good too (the earlier design were more or less identicle)

LINK and LINK

 

[fatboyslimfast]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"] Of course, it may sound fabulous, but it should be possible to build something similar for rather less, and with minimal electronics knowledge.[/quote]

Now, I may be barking up the wrong proverbial (or indeed, just barking), but would the ultimate pre-amp (sound-wise) be a selection of gold-plated phono sockets, hard wired to resistors in the correct configuration, to an output (i.e. pair 1 go through resistor values A, pair 2 through value B and so on, so which sockets you put the cables in determines the volume level).

Or am I missing something obvious here - apart from the convenience factor of having everything permanently plugged in and a nice knob to twiddle for volume...?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, I supect you are barking, but in this case you're right.

Indeed several very high-quality volume control systems use a 'ladder' of resistors, and switch between them to alter the output level. Saves all that plugging and unplugging, and maintains signal purity while retaining all the pleasures of knob-twiddlage.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]

[/quote]

How did you find my photo? I thought I'd cleverly disguised myself as a turntable...