2. amps-preamps
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Preamp gain vs. poweramp sensitivity

Hello,

Just purchased an Art Audio Carissa which has input sens. of 600mV (very high). At first, I was thinking that I would want a high-gain pre because the Carissa puts out only 16W/ch and could benefit from some preamp gain.

However, I believe upon considering the sensitivity that a high-gain pre is NOT desired because:

1) I would need to open the VC only a bit before the Carissa was driven to full power.

2) For the above reason, the high-gain is wasted anyway because the pre wouldn't be able to put out what it's capable of without overdriving the Carissa.

Do I have this straight? The relation of gain to voltage is not clear to me. The preamp is specified as outputting 2V yet, with a standard 2V source, that is actually unity gain! So what exactly does "20db of gain" in a preamp mean?

Thanks for clarification on this question.

Paul
paulfolbrecht

Showing 1 response by newbee

newbee
4,794 posts
 
Paul, FWIW, I don't believe your amp will see the output impedence of your source. It will see the output impedence of your (passive) line stage. Does the 'passive' line stage you are considering have a constant output impedence, or does the output impedence change with the position of the volume control. Some do, some don't and it can make a difference (but with and input impedence of 180K it might not). It could also affect you choice of IC's and the lengths you could use (short is always good with passives).

Lastly, I observed a lot of folks going to passives with a lot of initial satisfaction over what appears to be a gain in detail, clarity, etc, but concurrently I've seen quite a few change back (including me) feeling that they lost some dynamics with the passive. Try before you buy if you can.
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