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Yeah, the Creek is junk, well, not really, er . . . .sort of. I used the Creek example to explain that in many situations, you really don't need additional gain from a line stage. What's the point of attenuating a signal 20 to 30 dB and then amplifying it again? This is what I learned with the Creek. Most line stages are redundant. It's a non sophistocated way to avoid impedance matching and gain staging issues. You're right about the sound of passives, sort of. There was more detail with the Creek but the bass was weak and the sound was anemic. That's because it is very hard to get the impedance right for a passive resistor volume control. You can get it right for the source or the amp, but usually not for both. That might be why you had trouble with passives. That's usually why most people have trouble and give up. Your source has to see a high impedance, your amp has to see a low impedance. Your amp has to have enough gain too (sensitivity). It's not easy, but once you get it all sorted out it can be better than an active. I'm not recommending the Creek. The experience with the Creek showed me just how much detail was lost in the 20 year old Counterpoint line stage. That's when I started learning about TVCs, impedance matching, gain staging, etc. I use a DIYHiFi Django TVC now. But like you say, to each their own. My way just sounds better to me with the gear that I have over here. To answer your question. You don't have to warm the SA5.1 up at all. It is always in standby mode when it's plugged in the wall. The heaters are always on but no B+ voltage is applied. It is warm and ready to be turned "on". When you turn it on there is a 90 second delay, a relay switches it out of mute, and you're good to go. It sounds a little bit better after a few minutes, but no big change. (I'm speaking of the stock unit. If you've modified it at AltaVista then I can not comment. I think he puts Blackgates in there and Blackgates need to be on all of the time to sound their best. That's a lot of tubes to leave on all of the time.) I got a few hundred for the pre, I was happy to get anything after almost 20 years. It was nearly 20 years old with original parts, except tubes of course, and some of the resistors that blew up when it was new. Yeah, all of my Counterpoint gear had to get repaired. My Pre amp, head amp, and power amp. Geez. What a company. That was their trademark you know. "We're just too cool and way too important to worry about quality control. Repairs are your problem. Be happy that we sold you one". No joke. That's how we were treated. Once it was fixed by a non-Counterpoint technician, it worked forever though. Live and learn.
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