On a whim, and as a sucker for an international 'sale' with a high Aussie dollar, I recently purchased a TVC (transformer volume control) passive pre-amplifier from a Malaysian company, Promitheus Audio, owned and operated by Nicholas Chua.

Nicholas' products have been enthusiastically received by audiophiles around the world for a few years, and as the principal designer, he is continually upgrading the specifications of his products based on personal listening and customer feedback. A few words about Nicholas and his business can be found here.

The Reference TVC4 is a dual mono design, with one Neutrik XLR and three silver RCA In and Out, housed in a bespoke stainless steel and merbau wooden 'box' with ebony knobs. The cosmetics are fine for the modest asking price but the design and finish won't cause Rowland or Krell any sleepless nights on the aesthetic front! I am new to the world of passive pre-amps so I am sure some tweaking of cables, cable lengths and footers will reveal benefits for experimentation and patience.

I have only just started to burn-in the TVC4 and it is recommended to sound it's best after about 100 hours. 95 to go then. I need to set up an iPod or tuner to continuously drive the TVC for a few days to hasten the process. It does however sound quieter than my Supratek tube pre-amplifier even at first listen.

Interestingly, using Kimber Select (copper) balanced connections from the Wadia to the TVC4 then silver RCA to the 35 watt Supratek mono block power amplifiers requires the 24 step solid-feeling dual volume controls to be wound around to about 3 o'clock to obtain enough gain and drive for the Zu Audio Definition Mk 1.5s. The specification for gain is -54db of attenuation. But given the silent operation of this unit, should I care?

More thoughts soon.