Of course it is necessary to align it perfect on a north-south axis ...
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One limitation of using the tape out jacks is that they are located in the complete pre-amp circuit ahead of not just the volume control, but also the balance and mode (stereo/reverse/mono/left/right) controls. Those controls are the very reason I have an ARC LS-1 (in addition to an EAR-Yoshino 868L), and I wish contemporary pre-amps has them, as well as a phase switch. Ralph Karsten includes the latter in his Atma-Sphere pre’s. All "non-essential" controls were jettisoned in the purist pursuit of creating the shortest signal path, and pre-amps and integrateds containing them have become viewed as compromised, non true high-end designs. Well la de da ;-) . |
In the 60's/early-70's, the hardest core audiophiles did as Lew just said: take the signal coming out of the tape monitor jacks and use that to feed their power amp, thereby bypassing the line stage. That worked only if the gain provided by a line stage was not necessary in their system. But what of adjusting volume? Back then, many of those same hardcore audiophiles knew their way around a soldering iron, and would make themselves a little volume pot box to put between the tape out jacks and the power amp inputs. Roger Modjeski made them, listing them on his Music Reference website for cheap. That left only the matter of the output impedance of the tape monitor outputs, which is sometimes higher than the main outputs. |
Ok. I can’t resist entering this discussion for no good reason: many linestages have an OUTPUT (not an input) usually labeled “Tape Out” which completely bypasses the volume control and any gain stage that follows it. So you can directly monitor the chosen input source and adjust your tape recorder or other device you may want to feed accordingly, while still driving your amp/speakers from the signal source via the line stage. I think that might be a source of confusion in the current brouhaha. “Tape out” has been with us forever. |
So, when you posted your first response, you looked on thankful's system page, saw he had an Odyssey Audio Candela preamp, had intimate knowledge of the Odyssey Audio Candela preamp and knew for a fact that it did not have a 'direct input' RCA input? And possessing that knowledge infers that you knew some preamps came with that feature, the Candela not being one of them. I'm thinking you did not. I think the first you heard of it was when bdp24 mentioned it. And you gave your abrasive answer not having a clue of these facts. So you were right for the wrong reason. But, take your tiny victories anywhere you can. They're so few and far between. |
Having looked at the OP's system, from what I can see on the manufacturer's (Odyssey) website there does not appear to be any distinction made among the analog inputs, so, unless the owner's manual has any suggestions, I'd think in this case that the OP can use any of the inputs. Lol! What is that you're using there, Chief? Belt sander? Or random orbital? |
Funny...... based on the way the OP phrased the question, I figured he didn't have a particularly "unique" linestage . In the back of my mind I thought-someone's gonna comment that there IS a difference if you have a ....... I'm thinking someone with such a linestage, they wouldn't ask this type of question, they would know. Best for me to stay out of techie questions. |
It starts as a mountain being blasted. Combing through the rubble you find a suitable boulder. You get to chiseling. Great big chunks coming off. No idea what it is. Eventually the chips are getting smaller, a shape is beginning to take form. Only when its clearly recognizable, only then is time for sandpaper. Coarse at first, progressively finer and finer, until its time for a liquid polishing compound. Last step, oil or wax, fills in micro scratches leaving a high gloss finish. This project here, I would put more in the chainsaw on a stump category. |
We don’t know the model of your preamp, right ? Some designers of the Line Level Preamps can offer different gain for different line inputs, but if you have something like this is must be stated in the manual. Here is a line level preamp with this option: CD and AUX can be 0db or -20db as you can see, actually this is a first preamp i’ve seen with this option. Normally they are the same and not always called "cd" or "aux", more often the are just "input 1,2,3 ..." "CD", "AUX" or "Tape" inputs associated with oldschool preamps. |
No mc, onhwy61 is not speaking of which RCA input jacks are closest to the selector switch on a pre-amp. He is referring to pre-amps with a "Direct Input", that pair of RCA’s bypassing any and all controls except for volume/level. ARC is one company who have made pre-amps with that feature (my LS-1 does, as did the LS-2 I once owned). |
Lol! They ALL have some inputs that "are more direct" than others! Look at the back- RCAs all in a row. Different distances from the selector switch. Are we now gonna quibble over one being 2cm "more direct" than another? Oh Lord, we are! Someone else gonna leap to defend them, posit something even less likely and a whole lot less relevant. Next thing you know GK, dajones be here quibbling back and forth. And that goes on for weeks, until finally one of them catches Wuhan or forgets to pay the cable bill and we get some relief. Oh well. Entertainment value. At least this time the OP got his question answered before the Samneric Show. |