Quote Originally Posted by Phil-G View Post
and most of the opinions i've seen here are that the preamp is possibly the most important part. altec made a few preamps.
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These days I become very skeptical of the value, function of pre amplifier in the middle of source and power amplifier. If you can somehow control volume and choose source, with such as passive pre , I think not to put anything between power amplifier and source is the best. ( if you are using only one source and your power amplifier has gain control, you wouldn't need that either)
If you have a very good pre amplifier it will pass all the information from your source equip such as CD to power amplifier without adding any character or losing any information. If not, it is just headache.
But, it will be different story if you need treble, base control, loudness. If you are a Vinyl lover and make things simple from phone EQ or stepup transformer etc...that will be another story.