I have been following with interest the discussions/arguments regarding the merits of passive pre-amps.
SO decided to give it a go to see/hear for myself.
I have a pair of Quad 99 monoblocks which were meant to be sold eventually, thes seemed a fair start.
I did not want to spend lots of cash on the project as the results could potentially be poor.
I looked at offerings from Tisbury, NVA, but settled for the Baldwin P3S (all around £100/130 price range)
Following advise about short connection cables I connected my Marantz 6006 and my Ariston RD 11 Turntable through an Angle Audio reference 2 phono stage.
Was a little worried about my Quad Z2 speakers as they are not the most sensitive units
First up Cd (Raising Sand, Robert Plant/Allison klauss) well well, no noticeable loss of VOLUME, (quarter turn on control) bass or treble, and easily the equal of my Croft integrated
Next the same music on LP, control to 12 o clock for same volume, but sound very very good.
Just one thing of note, he music was fine ,but vocals a little recessed needed to widen speaker position and remove toe in, cured but cannot explain why?
Maybe I was just lucky with the available equipment to hand, and the Quad amps having ample power, but the set up will remain till I have tried other styles of music.