Passives are fine if all of the other components in the system are very well suited for use with a passive. You can't simply plop one in and expect great results.
My best passive setup consisted of:
- Cary CD 306/200 which was known for a very robust and 'hot' output meaning it put out a heftier and higher voltage signal than most CDP's and other source components.
- Placette Passive Line stage. It had a relay switched stepped attenunator that switched-in different combinations of precision Vishay discrete resistors.
- Power amps that didn't require a lot of signal for full output power.
- Speakers sensitive enough to not require lots of drive to play loud. I still had more range available on the Volume control to go louder.
Cary + Placette Placette
