Power Cords realy help!

dragon1952

Originally Posted by heiney9
"All receivers have a pre-amplifier section no matter if you use a direct function (like you mention) or not. The pre-amp takes the very low level audio signal from either the inputs or tuner section and increases it to make it possbile for the last section of a receiver which is the amplifier section. The amp section in any typical receiver doesn't have the ability to amplify the low level signal unless it is first boosted by the pre-amplifier section. The reason is simply the nature of electronics and the very low level signal coming from a cdp, dvdp, tape, phono or tuner section.


Direct just bypasses the tone controls, and switching banks. You are still using the pre-amp section of the receiver. By bypassing the above the signal has a bit shorter run and can't pickup noise associated with running thru switches and potentiometers, etc. Less components in the signal path is SUPPOSED to mean a cleaner signal. In a receiver because of all the other compromises in design there is rarely the intended result." unquote heiny

That's basically the point I was trying to make, it just didn't come out as simply and fluently. The preamp section is never passed. Some amps do have a line level input however but most that do don't do a real great job at it.
Also, in the pure sense the preamp may only offer gain and line source switching but many do have tone controls so that would definitely be a function of many preamps, but maybe not the higher end ones. Whether or not that is referred to as 'signal processing' is probably not the best since DSP has been around and it may cause confusion but tone controls are definitely processing the signal if you want to look at it that way.

dragon1952

TN_Polk_Lover wrote:

John,

heiney9's post was very good at trying to explain some of the reasons a receiver can never be quite as good as seperate pre-amp / amp / tuner, etc.

However, don't get too caught up and frustrated if some of this just doesn't make sense to you. Don't forget the main object here should be the enjoyment of music. If the system you currently have sounds good to YOUR ears, you (and your family) enjoy the music, enjoy the movie soundtracks (if used for that purpose), then don't forget to ENJOY it!

I understand full well alot of these things, but I still recently bought a Denon 3806 receiver.Why? because in a single unit it gives me the ability to decode multichannel sound sources (Dolby 5.1 or dts) and provide amplification for up to 7 channels. I did make sure that I bought a receiver with "pre-outs" so that I could drive my front main speakers with a seperate 2 channel amp.

My Denon receiver also has a "stereo direct" and a "pure direct" function. My understanding of this is that in the "stereo direct" mode, some of the circuitry is bypassed, such as any tone, equalization, or DSP (sound effects such as concert hall, jazz club, etc.). In "pure direct" mode, it also turns off the display to eliminate any noise the display might introduce. Is this a good thing that it has these direct modes? Yes. But, will that still be as good or as "pure" as having a seperate high-quality pre-amp connected to a seperate power amp? Most likely not. But -- and this is the big question. Is the higher cost and more space required for the seperate components justified? That is entirely a value judgement that each person must make on his own. And -- also a big factor -- if you can tell the difference or hear the difference. As we have hashed out in this thread arguing about power cords -- it seems some people can hear a significant difference in the receiver vs. seperates setups, others can't.

Now, I understand that there are some who find time to enjoy the music, but still are obsessed with constantly wanting to improve their systems. There is nothing wrong with this. Maybe that is their hobby and it gives them something constructive to do when they aren't at work or doing other things with their families. Some people collect stamps. Some build ships inside of bottles. Some obsess over getting the most performance out of their engines, or they argue about which wax is best to use to wax their cars, etc.
Some here fiddle around with audio equipment and find it challenging to get the very best possible sound from their system.

I agree.....don't stress it man! If it sounds good enjoy.

dragon1952

johnADA wrote:

For the $1500 they quoted me, I could get a tuner, preamp and a 100 watt RMS amp, right? 2 channel only!

You could do pretty darn well on the used market with that. Audigon is a great place to shop.....all those rich bastages unloading. Personally I don't listen to the radio at home so my only concern as far as source is the CD. I don't know how important HT is to you. I ended up only occassionally watching a movie in the room I had set up for it. We watched all of our TV downstairs anyway, so I said screw this and went for the music.

hearingimpared

dragon1952 wrote:

You could do pretty darn well on the used market with that. Audigon is a great place to shop.....all those rich bastages unloading. Personally I don't listen to the radio at home so my only concern as far as source is the CD. I don't know how important HT is to you. I ended up only occassionally watching a movie in the room I had set up for it. We watched all of our TV downstairs anyway, so I said screw this and went for the music.

Yep you can get yourself a very very nice used amp for a lot less than $1K, the same for a really nice preamp also. Audiogon is where I purchased my amps. I took the advice of quite a few CP members on the amp to match it up with my 1.2 TLs. . . their adivce was right on the money. No audio I ever purchased was new except for my turntable but I got that at 1/2 price because at the time I had my own audio business. . .I refuse to pay MSRP especially when in no time the price used is going to drop by 2/3rds for it used.