Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: tbray@watsol.waterloo.edu (Tim Bray)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Pre-amp considered harmful?
Message-ID: <10339@uwm.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 91 13:46:28 GMT
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Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


This is getting kicked around a bit in rec.audio, and it's certainly a
high-end subject.  IF you don't play vinyl, then it seems intuitively likely
that a pre-amp box full of active componentry is less desirable than some
sort of passive attenuation/balance/switching technology.  Even if you play
vinyl, the idea of a RIAA+head-amp box specialized for that function and
producing line-level output might suggest the desirability of passive
pre-amping.

Or, it might suggest the viability of a truly high-end integrated amp - just
a power amp with passive volume/balance/switching stuff on the front - this
also eliminates one stage of interconnect - appealingly minimalist.

Might even be room to save a few bucks here...

I know for a fact such products exist.  Anyone here using them?  It said
that there are all sorts of potential problems with impedance matching and
the like.  Feedback on that?

Tim Bray, Open Text Systems, Waterloo, Ontario