Could someone please explain to me how much of quality sound would I miss if I connect a stereo receiver to my two amps instead of a pre-amp? My wife likes the radio so....
I finally got my two NAD C-270's and I want to use them in bridge mode with the new NAD C720BEE.....Originally I had the C-162 in mind...oh well.
Most Nad pre amp stages are very similar so you could plug the receiver into the power amps and go that way with no problems. I don't listen to radio and also the C160/C162 dedicated pre will sound better so I'd go for that. Depends whether you want to maximise your sound? The differences won't be night and day so if you've already bought the receiver don't worry.
I do have a question related to this topic. Can I connect the preamp output of my receiver to an integrated stereo amp (for better stereo performance) or should I always connect the preamp out only to a power amp?(these seem to be too expensive).
You can connect the pre outs of a receiver or integrated amp to the power or main amp in of a receiver or integrated amp. This places the volume control of the first pre amp section before the power amp and therefore it is the contolling unit.
You can also connect the tape outputs of the above products to the tape in connections. This eliminates the volume control of the first unit and puts only the switching facilities in front of the second amp. The volume control on the second amp is the master volume at this point.
Tom hunter
Unregistered guest
Posted on
hi i have a 120w per channel amp, some beautiful 250w speakers, a mixer and have aquired a 30w pre amp and wondered how its best to link them up, with the pre amp after or before the mixer...
Also, connecting it up to my computer to play music through, im getting a fair bit of static, im hoping that having a pre amp sould help lower the levels but id like to know if there is a solution to the static problem. any ideas?
thanks tom
Anonymous
Posted on
connecting a car amp up in a house is not a great idea... think very carefully before you do as there is a huge fire risk.
Thanks for the clarification (sorry for the late acknowledgement). About connecting the preout of a receiver to a power/integrated amp, when the recevier is handling 5.1 audio (fed through digital connection) would I get a downmixed stereo in the pre-out of the receiver? What about the tape out, would I get a down mixed stereo?
I'm not clear on what exactly you are asking. A 5.1 format such as SACD or DVD-A requires an analog signal be sent from the player to the processor/pre amp/receiver. The copyright provisions do not allow a digital ouptut of these two formats. Whether the signal will be downmixed from 5.1 discrete channels to two channel stereo is a function of both the disc and the player. Some multi channel discs also contain a two channel mix which can be accessed by the menu of the player. If the disc is 5.1 only, not all players will do downmixing. If they do, the resulting format is usually somewhat compromised in the final format sent to the front two channels of the player's outputs. How audible this becomes is a matter of your system and hearing.
5.1 is not available through conventional tape outs and so can only be taped in a downmixed two channel format when available. If the processor has done it's job and sent the signal to the pre amp, what would be available at the pre amp outputs would be the downmixed 5.1 signal. Hope that covers your question.
Thanks for the clarification. Actually I asked whether the receiver down mixes the 5.1 audio for the pre-amp out as well as for the tape out. First part of my question (about pre-amp) may not be correct since receivers in general may have separate pre amp out for all the channels. However for the 2nd part (tape-out), I got the answer.
OK, for a source format such as Dolby Digital or DTS the processor will not downmix to the tape outs. DVD-A and SACD cannot be copied in their original format, downsampling must occur before the signal can be sent anywhere other than the analog outs of the processor.
Depending on the processor, if you tell the processor you have no center, rear or LFE speakers, the additional channels will be folded into the front two speakers. But the signal will be downconverted and downsampled. My current understanding of how the formats work allows the sampling rate to (usually) be halved when this folding in or downmixing occurs. So a signal that exists in its raw form at a 192kHz sampling rate will be downconverted and downsampled as well as downmixed. The resultant two channel mix will exist as a (usually) 96kHz sampling rate signal. DSS for the SACD format does some other operations depending on what you are asking the processor to accomplish. In some cases the signal, or portions of the signal, will be cross converted to PCM output before being sent to the analog sections of the amplifier. There seeems to be substantial confusion regarding how the various formats accomplish anything other than discrete 5.1 unless you simply take the signal from the disc and do nothing more than adjust levels at the analog stages. Each format handles things like rear speaker delay somewhat differently and how that is done isn't always made clear in any literature on the formats that I've seen.