Pre-Amp - Required ?

[sriee]

Dear Experts,

I own a Denon 3313 AVR with KEF Q900 speakers. Sherbourn Power Amp will be hooked to the Denon AVR using the Pre-Out. Now.... some of my friends say that , using Pre-Out to the Power Amp will not produce a good quality audio. My primary requirement is stereo music listening.

Now, should I really go for a Pre-Amp or Pre-Out from AVR to Power Amp is ok???

Please guide me.

Regards,
Sriee

 

[denom]

Congrats on your sherbourn power amp purchase! Pls post some pics of the amp.
How much did you get it for?

 

[spirovious]

Dear Experts,
Now, should I really go for a Pre-Amp or Pre-Out from AVR to Power Amp is ok???
Sriee

Dedicated Pre-amp for HT is must.If your power amp matches with Denon,then shouldn't be an issue.I can say that because I used my Yamaha 667 preout with different power amps.
For stereo use,a good pre amp will certainly improve quality of music.

 

[shanmune]

... If your power amp matches with Denon,then shouldn't be an issue....

Can you please share more details on your above statement ?

What I got to know from other threads is that not all AV receivers do have good pre-outs. I guess it is all about the output voltage level at the pre-out. Higher the voltage leads to higher S/N, better utilization of the amp's power, etc and overall improvement in the SQ. Again, this what my understanding is, but I would like to know your thoughts as well.

 

[deepakgang]

The pre-out of your AVR is already pre-amped to about 2 volts or so .. so you might not want to send that to another pre-amp unless you are taking the signal directly skipping your avr

 

[koushik]

What will be your source and will you be able to connect it directly to the preamp bypassing the avr? Then and only then you will get the benefit of a preamp.

 

[jagdish_p]

Dedicated Pre-amp for HT is must.If your power amp matches with Denon,then shouldn't be an issue.I can say that because I used my Yamaha 667 preout with different power amps.
For stereo use,a good pre amp will certainly improve quality of music.

I use the Yamaha 667 preout as input to Integrated Amp connected to my Front L&R speakers when playing in HT-5.1 mode. I find that the preout volatge of the Yamaha AVR is low and I needed to keep my integrated Amp at Max volume. Yes connecting a power amp to preouts instead of Integrated amp is a better solution. But then for stereo mode I connect the Source directly to Integrated Amp.

 

[sdnizamud]

Hi
There is no need for any Pre-Amp for you as your AVR-3313 is equipped with Pre-Out. You can use either of pre-out like FL and FR and hook it up to your Power Amp. But for sure it makes a big difference in Audio quality if you use a separate pre-amp for power amplifiers.
Hope this helps you to decide.
Regards
Nizam

 

[shanmune]

I use the Yamaha 667 preout as input to Integrated Amp connected to my Front L&R speakers when playing in HT-5.1 mode. I find that the preout volatge of the Yamaha AVR is low and I needed to keep my integrated Amp at Max volume. Yes connecting a power amp to preouts instead of Integrated amp is a better solution. But then for stereo mode I connect the Source directly to Integrated Amp.

Does having less pre-out voltage have any impact on the overall sound quality apart from the sound volume level ? I guess you might have experimented with these combinations: CD player (or any music source) ->RX-V667 (pre-out)--> integrated_amp (Versus) CD player (or any music source)-->Integrated_amp (in stereo mode). Apart from the volume level, have you seen any difference in the SQ ?

 

[sriee]

Congrats on your sherbourn power amp purchase! Pls post some pics of the amp.
How much did you get it for?

Well,... when I ordered last month , it was around 1139 USD and my friend is bring it this weekend. But then, I kept checking the sherbourn website out of my obsessiveness only to find out that they slashed the price to 839 USD last week.

So, I spoke to the customer care and then the account head dept to give me a credit. and you know what ?? They Did ...... like... they'll adjust that difference amount in my next purchase and I guess that's cool too.

That's when I started to see,... what else I can buy, given my current setup.

Most of my audio files are stored digitally( purchased from iTunes ) .. so was actually considering buy the

XDA-2 USB DAC/Digital Preamp/Headphone Amp | Emotiva Audio Corporation | Emotiva Audio | High-end audio components for audiophiles and videophiles, spanning 2-channel music systems, as well as 5.1 and 7.1 home theaters. Products include multichannel

which could act as both DAC as well as Pre-Amp. But, I normally use the Airplay to play my audio files. If I use this pre-Amp, how can I play my digital audio files from my laptop ????

But, I would need your opinions or alternate suggestions to make use of this credit to enhance my setup.

So, is my thought process right or any other better way to handle this pre-out/ pre-amp/Air Play confusion. One thing that's evident is Pre-Amp will definitely enhance the audio quality, so why not go for it??? Please let me know what you guyz think.

Kind Regards,
Sriee

 

[spirovious]

Can you please share more details on your above statement ?
.

Sure,I connected Rotel Power amp to 667 & sound became more warm.I couldn't get good details & not happy with it.Instead 667 connected to speakers was sounding rich.When I connected marantz 110W AVR as poweramp(connected from multich in),things improved the sound.Sound was much detailed & soundstage became bigger & wider.AVR was in pure direct mode to avoid its DSP.So I can say that pre & power should match well to get best.So you can try connecting preout of Denon to Poweramp & also connect speakers directly Denon.If you find difference,then you have the answer.

 

[koushik]

Close to Rs.60k at US pricing after discount. Thats quite an expensive amp. I would strongly recommend you for a dedicated preamp and DAC. Otherwise it will a wastage of such expensive amp.

What's the input sensitivity of the amp?

 

[sriee]

Koushik,

This is the one - PA 5-200 5-Channel Amplifier | Sherbourn Technologies that I am getting.

Considering the wattage and spec( 5 channel, 200 wpc, 10 year warranty...) , I guess the price is cheaper.. don't you think so ?

By the way, input sensitivity is: 1.100 V at 8 Ohm

Please educate me on the 'Input Sensitivity' thingy...

Kind Regards,
Sriee

 

[ROBIN LANDANSON]

For stereo use,a good pre amp will certainly improve quality of music.[/QUOTE]

I've a good brand new Dynavox TPR-43 tube Pre amp. It has a phono input

 

[koushik]

Koushik,

This is the one - PA 5-200 5-Channel Amplifier | Sherbourn Technologies that I am getting.

Considering the wattage and spec( 5 channel, 200 wpc, 10 year warranty...) , I guess the price is cheaper.. don't you think so ?

Oh okay, so it is a 5 ch amp!

By the way, input sensitivity is: 1.100 V at 8 Ohm

Please educate me on the 'Input Sensitivity' thingy...

Input sensitivity is the measure of the input voltage and input impedance. This amp has i/p sensitivity of 1.1 V @ 8 ohm which means that the amp will give unclipped rated power output of 200W to 8 ohm load (speaker) when an i/p audio signal of 1.1V is fed into it.

This amp is not very sensitive so you would need a active preamp. Or atleast a buffered passive like the Pass B1.

 

[sriee]

Oh okay, so it is a 5 ch amp!

This amp is not very sensitive so you would need a active preamp. Or atleast a buffered passive like the Pass B1.

So, what value of input sensitivity wouldn't require a Pre-Amp. What value is considered to be sensitive.

 

[koushik]

You missed the word "active". Preamp is required for all amp. Some shines with active and some shines with passive preamp. In my case, Quad 306 sensitivity is only ~350 mili volt. Which is almost 1/3 of yours. Sometime in very near future I will move to passive preamp.