The Need for a Pre???

Early B.

Aside from serving as a traffic cop for source components and controlling volume, what other purpose does a preamp serve?

Here are two situations, in particular, why I'm asking --

1. If you have a CD player with volume control, why would someone opt to use a preamp?

2. Why do many audiophiles bother with separates when an integrated amp serves the same purpose?

Thanks.

F1nut

1. Gain

2. There are advantages and dis-advantages to both. In the past the choice of high end integrated amps was very limited, not so today.

W WALDECKER

some audiophiles swear by using a passive preamp that is only used to control the volume level. and some of them use nude attentuators that are a volume control knob with a male rca input on the source end and a female rca output on the power amplifier end and this contraption hooks directly to the rca input on the back of the power amplifier with the ic cables from the source attached to this volume knob. i have heard passive preamps and they are ok but can become tiring to listen to over a extended period of time. as for the nude attentuators i have not heard them so i can not say too much about them except that they look very odd. i think the main reason for using separates is to try to keep the circuitry as far away from each other as is practical so that they cant interact with each other. i am not really shure about this and maybe someone else can elaborate on this. but from my own personal experience monoblock amplifiers sound noticeably cleaner to my ears vs a one box stereo amplifier maybe someone can elaborate on this observation also. well thats my two cents.......thanks for the topic.

jrlouie

Good question Early, regarding question #1. I have the same setup. Direct CD to amp with volume control on the CD. That's pretty pure/direct. Why introduce another component other than the annoying fact that if I turn my CD player off and back on, it resets the volume to max

F1, please elaborate if you don't mind. I'm not sure I understand. I'm wondering if your answer of Gain is for the scenario where your CD player doesn't have the ability to provide the amount of voltage matching the required input voltage on the amp for maximum output???? If that's the case, I guess the only benefit is for high listening levels.

Let me know, thanks!

faster100

Lets just hook a mic to a amp and try and reproduce the singers voice.... pure and direct


But really, its a stereo system... which requires componets to control it, When did the "audiophiles" decide we dont need this and that to sound good? My dodd has no controls but input and volume, I sometimes wish i had a remote, or a bass control.. But its fine as is also.

as long as humans can hear and think, when it comes to audio thier will always be something someone thinks is better and more pure. No remote, no tone controls, 1 input, totally passive, on and on and on and on.... I like haveing a pre-amp because it works as it should to control my system. I use a tuner also so 1 cd player with a volume wouldnt cut it. I like my Tube pre That's all i'm saying, LOL

F1nut

jrlouie,

Yep, you got it. Also, consider that the volume pot on a good quality pre amp is likely to be better than one on a cdp.

Another example for using a pre amp might be, you have a SS amp, a SS cdp and you want to get a more musical sound out of them. Adding a tube pre amp would be a excellent way to get that sound.

pjdami

I have a Cal Audio CL15 cd player which has a remote volume control and have experimented with it directly connected to my Rogue Tube amp. Nice combination and it works well. When I want to use my B&K solid state amp though, I have to put the Cary tube pre in there or it sounds to dry and analytical to me. Like everything else in this hobby no two people are going to like everything exactly the same way and there are going to be some variations in opinion. Experimentation is the key though to find your sound.

RuSsMaN

Gain, and source switching, that's it.

My office rig uses a old Crown portable CDP wired direct to my 2 watt 6197 SEP Spud amp. The amp has a simple pot wired RIGHT after the single set of RCA inputs, no preamp needed (or wanted for that matter).

For the bedroom RT7 rig I'm having a push-pull 807 amp built with iron from a Fisher 800 receiver - setup in exactly the same way. It's not really an integrated, it won't have a 'gain' stage, just a pot inline on the input. Not very flexible, but going for the 'less is more' scenario.

Cheers,
Russ

madmax

I've found in some setups that even though the volume levels are the same with a straight connection vs a preamp, dynamics are sometimes lost when going straight. Like I said though, on SOME setups. I think it may have something to do with impedance of the output of the CD player or preamp vs impedance of the input of the amp. Always try all the possibilities before deciding which is best.
madmax