My fascination with passive preamps started about 20 years ago when I became distinctly aware that a CD player with variable out plugged directly into my power amp sounded considerably better than using any preamp at all. This held true in 1998 when I was using my own passive design along with my custom made Von Schweikert/Stinson 4 pc transmission line speaker system, Levinson No. 331 amp, Levinson No. 37 transport, SOTA Star Sapphire/Zeta table, and Classe’ Dac-1. Being in the business I could have owned virtually any preamp I desired. Nothing could touch my custom passive unit. Fumbling through an issue of a popular electronics surplus catalog I ran across a little aluminum chassis/enclosure perfect for a single input passive unit. Well, they were $1.65 each while at the same time they were offering some odd-ball Noble volume controls with built in balance sections for $2.50. The incessant drive in me to always provide an audiophile bargain when possible couldn’t resist and I bought a ton of each. Already being supplied thousands of dollars a year in Cardas connectors I decided on their RCA’s and began making up some prototypes with different brands, types, and values of series resistors and my own silver wire of course! LOL. The response I received from my customers and colleagues who were asked to audition was tremendous and I had a very difficult time getting any of them back. Realizing that a more than adequate supply of these little boxes was available, I decided to make these little prototypical units available on an ongoing basis until we had truly exhausted all of the materials. Well, we have long since extinguished the Nobles and I am now able to use a new Noble to my specs which allows much more dynamic range and ease of system matching. These are all wonderful things apart from the fact that I am no longer getting away with $2.50 each. UGH! I will be designing a multi-input unit with significantly more attractive cosmetics and build quality in the near future, but for now we have a good stock of the little Axioms. As they are still “prototypical” in looks, they are the only item we offer purely factory direct. We are so confident that you will be blown away by the quality of the Axiom that we have always and will always offer a money back guarantee with your purchase. Happy listening, Tim Stinson