In need of amp-pre amp education

Midnite Mick

Can somebody tell me if there are certain technical type of compatibilities between an amp and a preamp. I am asking in terms of impedance, volts, and other electronic specs that I don't fully understand.

Thanks all,
Mike

disneyjoe7

Not being smart but seriously......


Don't sweat the details.

Midnite Mick

So I'll take that as a "no" then

Mike

disneyjoe7

No but more of why you're worried about it. Or is this more of a nerdy need?

Midnite Mick

I just asked because I have a few concert DVD's that I use my pre/pro with that sounded better before with my Nuforce amps than the tube amps that I just acquired. However, my 2 channel with the Modwright pre sound far better with these amps than they did before with the Nuforce listening to redbook cd. I thought there may be some sort of combatibility issue with the pre/pro and my new amps.....maybe something that I may not be aware of is all.

Thanks,
Mike

Gaara

I know that the impedance is important, you want your amp to have a higher input impedance then your pre, preferably at least 10X. Having a higher input impedance tends to lead to a higher noise on amps though, so they strive for lower input impedances, but then make it difficult to match pres. I am under the impression that if you have a pre with high input impedance and a amp with low input impedance you can have high frequency roll off. Solid state amps generally have lower input impedances say 25kohm-50kohm where tubes are usually closer to 100kohm

Having a high gain pre with a high gain amp will also lead to more noise. This was part of the issue I had with the Modwright, I had no need for gain as I had a high gain amp + the gain of the Modwright, which is a small part of why I want passive.

As for volts, you want the output of your pre to be at least the input sensitivity of your amp but not much more then it. If the input sensitivity of the amp was say 1.5v and the output of the pre maxed at 1.0 you would never reach full output on the amp. If the pre was say 2.0 instead then you would reach full output, and could go past that into distortion if turned to high.

Not sure what else you could look at when mating, spec wise.

Jared

Midnite Mick

Well according to your number Jared everything looks okay......thanks.
Gives me peace of mind anyway.

Mike