daveh75 said:
What are you actually trying to achieve?
The Cambridge is a fine disc spinner and pre-amp and make both the lab series and a pre-amp redundant.
Or is it more to scratch an itch...
Actually, through the active AE22s, the AVI is the better CD player. If it was a straight race between the 752 and the AVI as a CD player alike, the Cambridge would be going back in its box.
The AVI is by some distance the better player. Before, there wasn't much to separate them. Now, well...
I'm very clear on what I'm doing and what I need. I was seeking opinions about passive preamps. Don't worry too much about the peripheral details, I'll take care of that.
I might sell the Onkyo, but am undecided. I've seen some passive preamps that have piqued my curiosity. Promitheus, NVA and a few others. My 2011 Sony TV is hooked up to my amp via optical. The Cambridge can't accept a signal from a TV except via coax, and the Sony only outputs digitally via optical, so the Onkyo stays for now until I buy a new set next year (phew).
So I guess you could say this is a fact finding exercise. And I might yet go for an AV pre- to get the benefit of the AV functionality.