Pre Amp for Pass Labs X150.5

besides the impedance matching, i read that the gain also plays a part. just don't know how, someone pls enlighten me.

the X150.5 has a gain of 30dB, say the pre has a output gain of 14 dB, what does this mean? what if the pre now has a gain of just 4 dB?

thanks

just to make sure i get it right. X150.5 has gain of 30 dB and Balanced input impedance of 30,000 Ohm. say i have 2 pre:
A) Balance Output Impedance of 750 Ohm, Gain of 4 dB, every step in volume increment is 3 dB
B) Balance Output Impedance of 80 Ohm, Gain of 14 dB, every step in volume increment is 0.5 dB

Preamp B would give more control and play of the volume right? i.e. I could play my system late at night without getting too loud.

how does the output impedance affect the outcome?

thanks

Hello Driver, To my knowledge preamp output impedance doesn't effect volume. Matching of impedance just assures that the entire audio signal is passed. I looked up your X150.5's input impedance last night @ the Pass Labs website. According to Pass, your amp's balanced input impedance is 22 kohms, just like my X600.5 amps. The gain of my amps is also 30 dB. My Pass Labs X0.2 preamp has a gain of 12 dB balanced, while my old Audio Research Reference 3 preamp had a gain of 11.5 balanced. Both worked well with my system as far as volume goes. If a gain is very high, like a VTL 7.5 markI preamp which has a gain of 20 dB balanced, for example, then you can run into high volume problems no matter how low you set your preamp's volume. Also, with the VTL 7.5 markI, it would depend on an amps output and the amps gain, plus the sensitivity of speakers, etc. However, most preamps have a sensible gain and aren't as high as the VTL 7.5 markI. Hope this helped. Stan