Wayne, there are no passive components. Amps, well that is really a tough one! Anything that sounds good in the first watt! Right now I am liking my Pass X150(150 watts), Audio Note 300b(8 watts), and the TriPath eval. board amp(10 watts?). The pre-amp for all is the Steve Eddy BUF03 passive circuit. Things are good in the "Pink Room" with any of those. My Fi"X" is not in the house but 2A3's (3 watts) are good too. The Wave AV8's are pretty good (push-pull 8 watts). Heck, I guess my favorite type of amp is one that sounds good! There are some that have not thrilled me, but to mention them would not be "nice".