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Posted by Robert C. Lang (A ) on February 6, 2005 at 22:18:21

In Reply to: Re: results....... posted by mikel on February 6, 2005 at 20:17:48:

Whoa! You just made my evening. No need to sale me on the virtues Placette. I have been using one for the last several years. It is simply the best line stage I’ve heard. Indeed, I recently took delivery of a custom built Placette Audio 6-Channel Channel Passive Line Stage that Guy Hammel and I have been discussing the better part of two years.

But the fact that you are using a passive line stage (balanced) does raise a couple of questions that may or may not have had any bearing on your results. You explained that the Meitner was used in a balanced configuration and that the Esoteric was used with RCA connections. RCA vs. balance should make absolutely no audible difference, particularly with the very short runs (the Placette was very close to other components). But would this mean that the balanced Meitner was putting out twice the output voltage (probably around 4V at 50 kilohms) than the single ended Esoteric? If so, there would have been significant volume differences in favor of the Meitner (I think) when comparing the two systems. What was done to consistently insure that the volume was fair (within .1db of each other?)? Actually, there could be some significant volume differences even if the Meitner and the Esoteric were connected in the same way.

I also note that you were using Transparent interconnects with the Esoteric. I generally don't view interconnect brands enough to cause a black and white difference. But because you are using the Placette Passive Line Stage I'm not so sure. When I first got my Placette I was initially tried a Transparent interconnect. I don't remember which one. It was *not* a happy match. The sound was decidedly lifeless. Mr. Hammel at Placette advised me to find out the capacitance of the Transparent cable. To make a long story short at the time Transparent did not rate their cables with respect to capacitance. Fortunately, my dealer was able to measure cable capacitance and we found that the picofareds were way over the top, something like 300-400 per ft! This helped alter the high frequencies in a negative way. We called Transparent and they acknowledged that there interconnects were not designed with passives pres in mind (its my understanding that this is not a significant issue with a quality active pre). But they had a rather novel approach to attempt to resolve the problem. Transparent said that if we peeled the outer layer (skin) of the cable that this would lower the capacitance. We tested it and it, in fact, did reduce capacitance, but not nearly enough to be used with a passive.

Things may have changed at Transparent the last three or 4 years since I ran into that problem; interconnect companies are far more cognizant of capacitance issues than they were just a short time ago. Also it may have more of an issue with connections between the amp and the passive line stage than between it and the Esoteric. I'm not sure. But I would be very wary of Transparent cables connected in anyway to a Placette passive.


Robert C. Lang

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