Phono stage direct to amp?
Looks like your cartridge has a rated output of 3 millivolts (mv) under the usual test conditions (1kHz, 5cm/sec). Your phono stage has gain which is selectable to either 40db or 50db. 50db corresponds to a voltage gain of about 300, which would result in 900mv into the power amplifier. That's a bit light for many power amps, but is ok with some. Which one are you using? Regards, -- Al |
DB, I took a look at the Integra 9.9 manual, with inconclusive results. There is no indication that "direct mode," which I think is what you would be using, disables the volume control, which is good. All it says beyond that, though, is that there is "minimal processing" in that mode. My intuitive guess is that there would be one or more active gain stages still in the signal path, though, which would resolve any doubts about gains and levels, but at the expense of the possible sonic effects of those stages. If it does provide just passive attenuation in that mode (or some other mode), though, I suspect that you'll be ok, given your 92db speakers and the high-pass filtering which precedes the amplifier. Just as a point of information, 0.9 volts is about 8.5 db less than 2.4 volts, which would essentially convert your 250W amplifier into a 35W amplifier. Regards, -- Al |
DB, just noticed that you had said that the 2.4 volt sensitivity is in balanced mode, which I confirmed in the Proceed manual. Am I mistaken in thinking that the high-pass outputs of the SMS-1 have to be taken from unbalanced rca connectors, in which case the amp sensitivity is 1.2 volts rather than 2.4 volts? If you will be connecting the SMS-1 to the amp single-ended, everything is pretty much a non-issue except for the possible sonic effects of the Integra. Regards, -- Al |
