I am new to this subject. I have made my own speakers and now I am looking into either getting an receiver or a pre-amp. I don't know anyone who owns a pre-amp and I realize it is the more expensive way to go. I like to know what makes you guys pay the extra money?
Jan Vigne
Unregistered guest
Posted on
A reciever is made of three component put into one box. A tuner, whose function should be obvious by its name. A pre amp, whose function is to do two things; step up low level signals from the various source components (with buffering between inputs and outputs) such as phono, tuner, tape, etc. and to give you the control over these sources that will send signals in the desired direction (selector switch), give you volume adjustment and whatever other control functions you might need. In the early days of audio, before turntables and tape decks, the function of stepping up signal levels was not a part of a "pre amp" and the unit was simply called a control amp. The last piece of a reciever is the power amplifier which is where wattage is developed. By placing all three in one box a designer has to make certain concessions to the layout which may seriously affect the sound. By separating each component of a "reciever" you achieve (ideally) better performance and the ability to pick which piece actually suits your needs the best. Recievers are meant (usually) to sell for less money than separates and unless you have a good sized budget you will probably need to look at a reciever or used separates. By removing just the tuner from a "reciever" you create an integrated amplifier. Because this is a somewhat specialized market niche (particularly in the US) this is often a better built component than a reciever and you can, if you desire, add a separate outboard tuner at any time.
Anonymous
Posted on
It makes no difference to the human ear. Save your money.
this reminded me when I was once in another forum w/ cars regarding the advantage and disadvantage of AWD and FWD. people who decided to buy FWD said they don't want to spent the extra money for an AWD so they try to justify what they bought. they say FWD w/ dedicated snow tire perform well like AWD on cornering on uphill and downhill during snow. on CR Dec issue, they concluded an AWD w/ just an all season tire ( u don't have to replace it now and then during winter ) has better traction on foul weather than a FWD even w/ dedicated snow tires ( besides having 2 sets of tires for diff. season and changing your tires every winter, what a pain ). the point is it's your money, go and listen and decide w/c work for u. I was going to get one of the top of the line reciever ( Den 5803 or Pio Elite 49TXi ) in the market last year but I chance upon a processor and 7 ch. amp in an authorized dealer, brand new, in a factory sealed box that is $1000.00 less than the reciever I was planning to get.
Any of you familiar with this model:luxman c5000 preamp? What does it do really? Is it still in production? I only saw like one of it for sale (used) on ebay but no info. Don't wanna waste money for something which I dont known anything about. Can anyone tell me what are the features of this piece? And if it sounds any good? How is it compared to the hitachi hca-7500 preamp?
When i bought my first Pre/Power setup last summer, I was amazed at the difference. A basic Parasound Pre/Power setup can be had off of Ebay for aroun 400$ with some diligence.
Anonymous is just plain wrong here. One does not have to possess "Golden Ears" to appreciate the difference a good preamp and amp combination can make. I use to think the same thing until I experienced it for myself.
Having said that, bear in mind that the amp is made up of two sections, preamp and power amp, and in the end you will need to have both. If you are looking at the whole amp (both sections), then you should still consider integrated amps. In the last ten years bigger, more capable, integrated amps have come on the scene. The benefits of the separate pre/power sections are that you get to separate the delicate signals in the preamp from the massive power sections in the power amp, you get to dedicate the power supply for the preamp separately from the power amp. However, there are benefits to the integrated too. You don't spend money on two cases (casings are more expensive than you'd think) and twice the packaging, so spend on the internals, you also have a common signal earth to both sections.
Nowadays, with the plethora of fine integrated amps it's worth it to consider and compare all like-priced options.
i have a fender Fm212R Guitar AMP with a preamp jack. It comes with 2 x 12" speakers at 50 watts each (giving a total of 100 watts of power) However the back of the amp says #360 Watt [im guessing 360 watt peak]. The amp also has a slot for A preamp to be connected if i get a 360 watt preamp, will the sound's compasty be at 360 watts of power without damaging any of the equipment?