Anybody had any experience with these they would like to share ?
I think about trying one to replace my resistor potential divider
Yes, I have an Aurorasound Preda TBSP. Stunning SQ. Not cheap though!
I’ve heard the most expensive of these
Very good but pricier than a Coco San phono stage.
I think he means a passive pre, Jim.
I’ve got a twin TVC pre and it is really excellent.
Sowter do the raw ingredients http://www.sowter.co.uk/acatalog/E_A_Sowter_Ltd_ATTENUATORS_11.html#a256.
VB
Hey, thanks for the replies.
I was gonna make my own with the transformers from Sowter. My days of buying hifi boxes are well and truly over - well as long as i can build one with raw ingredients and my own recipe.
I bypassed the 7 pole bessel filter, buffer and output relay in my cdp. The dac chip only needs a 1st order passive filter, dc blocking cap and 100k to 0V on its output. I actually prefer the sound without the other 6 poles but wonder if i need some sort of buffer before my volume control (passive pre).
A tvc seemed to be the perfect answer as it kills two birds with one stone. Also it avoids any transistors or opamps (work of the devil). I also thought about lampizating the output of the cdp but why add that distortion and introduce yet another psu (at a much higher dc voltage than i am used to working with).
Transformers aren’t cheap so an expensive mistake if i don’t like the outcome.
I have never heard a passive pre that I would put in my system, and I have heard some suppoosedly very good ones. Flatter than a witches tit, no life, no fun, no thanks.
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Why not borrow one to try first. Might save (or cost!) you money.
If you’re going down this road look at autoformers (AVC’s) such as those made by Intact Audio or Tribute rather than TVC. But you may still find they work best with buffering fore & aft.
But surely you aren’t considering this before putting in a full Schumann array?
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I am very much a less is more kind of guy. Buffers before and after ? Not sure i want to add all that but thanks for your suggestion. I have looked into autoformers too, i will have another look
What the heck is a full schumann array ?
Nva power amps are designed to be used with passive pre. I have never thought it lacked life even after going to it from a very well respected avondale active preamp board.
I certainly don’t find my TVC flat or lacking life; far from it.
I’ve had a couple of different TVC things and neither stayed long.
They both did that nice transformer midrange trick that is very enjoyable but the bass was pish and had no real timing
I think my main problem was that they really seemed to work best when driven by something with zero output impedance and loaded with something with low input impedance.
As I use valve Phono and pre with non-zero output impedance and then a valve power with 100k input it really didn’t work.
The option of switching to sand based phono or sand based buffers was against my religious beliefs, so the TVCs moved swiftly along.
Ymmv obs
I may have to change my belief that transformers could be the solution.
I will try and borrow one and see. Sowter transformers are £160 each. Cant work out if they are mono or stereo so it would either cost me £160 or £320, I suspect they are mono (1 channel).
Bask in Schumann goodness instead. You know you want to.
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This is a cheap TVC I have owned one in the past maybe an option - It worked fine.
Woody 
there are lots and lots of connections to get wrong