New preamp, loss of low freq.?

If he can get the levels he wants to listen at, there is no problem with "output" voltage from the preamp. 

Cheers George 

lowrider57 hi.

Just one example, just about every piece of gear cdp, dacs, preamp and amps made by Krell is dc coupled. And there are many many others ss brands that do too. 

Tubes are a different story "most" tubes amps, cdp, dacs and preamps are have massive dc offset, to block this they either have capacitor coupling or are transformer coupled. 

Cheers George

Just looked at the Onkyo P-308 and it has a switch, similar to a loudness switch but without the HF boost, it only boosts from 200zh down. Maybe you used to have this switch on when you used to listen to it, and your Sanders pre is not going to give that.? Anyway you've now learnt something about capacitor coupled outputs.

From Onkyo:

"A contra-bass switch is added for those in need of more guts down below but only at 200Hz."

Cheers George

arctikdeth, take it easy or you'll blow a gasket.

We now know that the preamp is not capacitor coupled, and can drive the McCormack's 10kohm input load fine 

What was the preamp you used before this Sanders that gave you bass?

Cheers George   

Or you could just use another poweramp that you know is 47kohm or higher, and if that then gives you the bass your missing you know the output coupling cap is not big enough in the preamp when it’s with the 10kohm McCormack amp.

You also asked why they make such low impedance amps, sometimes it’s because they’ve use Bipolar input transistor, if they used Fet transistors on the input it can be much higher, even 100-200kohm.

That was the nice guy in me talking.

This is the nasty guy talking now. Some manufactures make it low purposely for a reason, so only their preamps that are dc coupled or have large coupling caps and low output impedances work properly with this sort of amp, and many others don’t, especially many tube ones because they are nearly all capacitor coupled and or high impedance, this gives them a sales advantage for selling their own preamp with that poweramp when an A/B is done.

Cheers George 

If and I state if, this preamp has an output coupling cap this could be the problem as I’ve outlined above, it has nothing to do with the output impedance of your preamp which is nice and low at 50ohms being solid state, it's to do with the output coupling cap size if it has one.

As for poweramps that have 10kohm input impedance, yes this is very low and I really have a hate for this, not only does it create problems of preamps with to small a coupling cap as you "may" have.

It can also create this problem: 10kohm input impedance on power amps can also create problems with output impedance of passive or active tube preamps that have high output impedances, but this is another problem, and not associated with the preamp you have being solid state. 

Cheers George   

Amp 10kohm, this could be the problem if your preamp is capacitor coupled on it’s output. As if the preamp’s output cap (if it has one), the size of it could have been calculated for a more normal (industry standard) >47kohm input impedance power amp.

Which the size of the cap may have been done so it’s say -3db at 10hz  with a 47kohm poweramp. Which is fine. 

But if that amp is 10kohm input then the -3db point will be 4.7 x higher at 47hz  easily heard and so will sound like it has a bass roll off. 

To test this, you can find out if the preamp is capacitor coupled by talking to the designer, or a quick test is to get another amp that you know is >47kohm input impedance and see if it still has a bass roll off.  

Cheers George

If the preamp is designed right, then there can be one reason for the loss of bass. If the preamp has an output coupling cap and it is not big enough (in uf) if it sees a low impedance input of the next component.

 So the question is what is the input impedance of the next component after the preamp (EG: amp or xover etc.)

Cheers George   

"Will output put volts have something to do w it?"

No they both have enough volts, unless you had to turn them up full volume only still not to get to your listening level you wanted.

"I'm getting from the preamp is remarkable to say the least. Mids/highs NEVER sounded so crystalline "

This will nearly always be the impression, if as you say you have lack of bass.

Cheers George