Pre amp selection?

[kanifee]

Well my project is about 40% through, my shigaclone is nearly done all it needs is its new trafo and blackgate equipped psu fitted and a couple of tweaks. Lm3886 has been done for a while and my DAC is almost finished, 96khz mod is done and all the caps are replaced the only thing left to do is either discard the opamp and output stage or replace with a better quality one. these all need cased up but im not focusing on that till all the components are gathered and constructed for accurate measurements.

My attention has been turned to my pre amp, im not sure weather to go with a passive or active pre, im not sure what benefits i would gain from either. i might replace the LM3886 with a 41HZ AMP10 and then later two.. each one bridged, is this something i need to concider in my decision?
I was considering a volume remote but i have decided against it as its only something extra in the line and im really not going to spend money to avoid moving 8 feet across a room! m really looking for siggestions and opinions, would a 24 step attenuator and an input selector be the way to go or a more elaborate input mechanism or a full blown active pre ? Id prefer a kit i could upgrade if an active is the way to go but i would concider a complete custom build if needs be.

[danielwritesbac]

Originally posted by kanifee
My attention has been turned to my pre amp, im not sure weather to go with a passive or active pre, im not sure what benefits i would gain from either. i might replace the LM3886 with a 41HZ AMP10 and then later two.. each one bridged, is this something i need to concider in my decision?
I was considering a volume remote but i have decided against it as its only something extra in the line and im really not going to spend money to avoid moving 8 feet across a room! m really looking for siggestions and opinions, would a 24 step attenuator and an input selector be the way to go or a more elaborate input mechanism or a full blown active pre ? Id prefer a kit i could upgrade if an active is the way to go but i would concider a complete custom build if needs be.

Active:
As for the preamp, there's a nice article here: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nuukspot/...ainclone2.html

Passive:
The matching transformer operated volume control does the main task of a buffer, and so would be quite good in a passive pre arrangement.
However, if you're going with "just a pot" then results could vary widely between different sources and/or volume settings.

As for LM3886 versus TA2022-AMP10, I'm sure that you can rig either one to measure similar and sound similar. This is probable at some point after you own both of them.
The AMP10 will quickly give you a good amplifier on a discontinued chip. and absolutely no clue why its a good amplifier (zero education value--its only soldering practice). However, the LM3886 can give you many different amplifiers, and playing with it will bring more understanding.
One potential source of high fidelity is in getting enough variety so that you can choose the most pleasant from amongst the variety present; therefore the question is un-answerable by anyone except for yourself.

[Nuuk]

Here we go again! Active or passive pre/buffer?

I prefer active, others like passive. Either way you need something to control the volume level (and select the source if you use more than one). Pot or attenuator is really down to how much you are prepared to spend.

Do you need more gain? Only you know that.

Have a look at the pages on buffers and pre amps in the Gainclone section at Decibel Dungeon. Building a pre really isn't difficult without a kit.

[zei]

If you do decide to go active i have a few PCB,s layoing around of this Preamp.
It is OPA2134 based with onboard PSU (LM3x7)

Sroll to the bottom for so mpics of the new PCB,s

SOAP Preamp

Regards
JZ

[kanifee]

Hmm very interested, what sort of price are we looking at?

[zei]

Hi kanifee

I have sent you an email.

Thanx
/JZ