François Yves Le Gal wrote:

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:01:23 GMT, dizzy wrote:

It's really amazing how expensive most preamps are, considering how
cheap and easy it is to do that function... Madness.

Well, you can use fancy parts and components. A quality generic two deck/six
position switch costs around USD4.00, a fancy Elma 2/6 around USD20,00.

Ditto for everything : an op amp costs only pennies in generic form, a high
end model such as the Burr Brown OPA627 costs USD12.25 per 1 K. So it's
pretty easy to reach a USD1,000.00 parts budget, translating into a retail
price of USD10,000.00 or more!

Yes, but a preamp only needs one "big" switch, and just a few op-amp
chips, and 2-4 good pots. Not so "easy" to reach $1,000 parts cost
with the essential components, even when they are "fancy" - unless
they use a ridiculously over-built power supply and/or over-built
casework...