Passive Preamp with remote and phono stage?

Title says it all, does such a device exist?

Want a unit with unity gain or adjustable gain. Integrated Phono stage perhaps with tubes and also a remote.

Sure always best to buy separate gear but just seeing if there was some unique device that has all the features. Also, not looking for the cheapest but still want to keep the price point reasonable...say under $3K

 

The first part is a pierce of cake: The Schiit Saga is a remote controlled passive with optional, tube or FET buffering. You could use one of these with the tube phono stage of your choice, and have money left over.

 

Thanks, it just doesn't seem to have the build quality that I am used to having. This seems like an entry level item...

 

Try finding an old Creek OBH-12. One of them just sold on eBay. They come up infrequently. That will give you passive + remote, of very good quality indeed.

Then add a phono of your choice.

 

Thanks, still doesn't quite fit what I am looking for...there are many options if I went with just a plain passive preamp with a remote...the key is combining all this stuff in a single higher end chassis.

 

These are very inexpensive. But don't let the price fool you. These are actually built pretty well. And these sound very good. To me their biggest issue is their cosmetics, which to me are butt-ugly. I personally hate seeing tubes stick out of the top of line-level components, and so I could not live with one in my main system. But I love the Saga which I have in our bedroom system.

 

Wouldn't a phono stage require active amplification though?

 

I am not sure, if that is why there are few if any passive devices that do this then perhaps that is a reason to have an outboard phono stage.

 

That's quite a pre-amp you already have now with phono! And the classic McCormack DNA-1 as well. McCormack's Line Drive TLC-1 pre-amp was an excellent passive design in it's day.

 

Yes, phono is active, not passive.

 

But can you have a passive line input that would be included with an active phono stage? That is what I am looking to test out.

 

Its the lack of remote that's making the McCormack products not fit in my setup. And while the exterior of my DNA is classic, the internals are all new...freshly rewired and upgraded by Steve. I had my Modwright LS-100 modified so that the gain was reduced by 9db. Just looking around for a potential next step in my system.

 

The only one that has a phono stage built in that I'm currently aware of is Vinnie Rossi's L2 Preamp.

L2 Signature Preamplifier - Meticulously Hand-Built by Vinnie Rossi

The tube stage can be bypassed to a o dB JFET Buffer stage, and the L2 can be ordered with a phono stage module.

 

Yup that's exactly what I am looking for, but don't need balanced outputs...and maybe a tad less expensive. I think with phono stage that would be around $20K MSRP!

 

If you're not completely married to the idea of having the phono unit and passive pre in one box, you could consider a both a phono unit and passive pre in a half width chassis that would take up the same amount of real estate as a full width component.

The Tortuga Audio LDR units are very slim and sound very nice, as well as the small but wonderful sounding Saga that @TarnishedEars already mentioned.

I must like passive preamps, perhaps too much, as I currently own 5 preamps that can be used in passive mode.

 

I'm not married to the idea, just looking for some suggestions on niche products that contain everything in one box. I can research stand alone units fairly easy, just not finding a lot of items that check all the boxes. My current preamp comes darn close. Actually the Tortuga LDR3000T.V25 looks very promising and within my reasonable budget with some room for growth. Still would need a phono stage...

LDR3000T.V25 High Performance Tube Preamp | Tortuga Audio

 

Fidelity Research (I think) made a tube preamp about 35 years ago which you would have found to be almost perfectly suited to your needs. It featured a superb tube phono-stage combined with a 100% passive line-level stage.

 

Ok so I'll add to my requirements, something currently in production that I can buy new or nearly new

 

I have a more modest Micro Line Drive with passive outputs. Prob my favorite component. Bought 1997.

 

Are you dead set on getting a passive preamp? Because this seems to be the fly in the ointment there are plenty of options in full function remote controlled preamps. It may be that phono and passive combined won't have enough gain considering you're using a MC cartridge.

 

The only thing that comes to mind is the Parasound Halo P6. DAC, phono, and line preamp with a remote in one box. Also well within your budget.
Model Halo P 6 « Parasound

I'm sure others exist, but that's the only one I could think of without breaking the $10K price barrier. I can't think of any with tubes that stay under $10K.

 

FYI - That wasn't a serious suggestion as these are super rare, and running samples are even rarer. I was merely pointing out the only preamp which I'm personally aware of which combines an active tube phono stage with a passive line stage.

 

I'm not dead set on anything, this is more asking the experts if such devices exist. Of course I can mix and match other gear, very easy to research but the reason I posted in this specific form was to ask the experts what gear exists on the fringes to meet the requirements listed.

 

I didn't see any features that allowed this to run in full passive or unity gain, did I miss that in the details somewhere?

 

I have thought the same thing, preferring passive preamps. I have considered contacting Music First Audio (MFA) to make something bespoke. MFA makes SUTs, TVCs and phono preamps. I have wondered if they could combine all of this in one box. Then you would essentially have the phono signal come into the unit, to the SUTs then to the phono section then out to the TVC (Transformer volume control). I bet this is something they could manage. Due to the low demand, I would doubt there will be many off the shelf options with this type of configuration.