I'm running my PC as a main audio source, for TV, movies, games, music, etc. At present, have a digital out on PC running to a digital to analog converter, which passes through an external EQ, and then into the amp.
I'd like to add some type of pre-out voltage increase, but am unsure what's the best route? I see used mixers going for cheap, but would rather have something small and compact, even easily hidden if possible. Adjustable pre-out voltage would be a plus.
Also, I've never used mixers before. What exactly is "attack", "rise", or any of the other mixer settings? Can they be bypassed? Will it add unwanted noise to the signal?
I'd like to add some type of pre-out voltage increase, but am unsure what's the best route? I see used mixers going for cheap, but would rather have something small and compact, even easily hidden if possible. Adjustable pre-out voltage would be a plus.
Also, I've never used mixers before. What exactly is "attack", "rise", or any of the other mixer settings? Can they be bypassed? Will it add unwanted noise to the signal?
My pre-out is coming directly from the PC via converter. I'm running a PA amp that needs a healthy pre-out voltage from source to get cranking. It's OK as-is for light listening, but have future plans with it and need it putting out rated wattage. I've never run a true pre-amp or mixer in a home stereo set up, so kind of a black hole with the mixer. Used mixers are cheap and plentiful, and seem small enough so leaning towards that if it increases the line voltage to something the amp likes.
AB International 9620b. Circa 98'. Has independent channel boards with input sensitivity switch on each board ranging from .775, 1v, and 1.5v. Dunno what "CW" is?
Would a compressor work too? I know nothing about band/DJ equipment, but looking at a used 2 channel compressor, I was reading how it can "level" the sound by limiting dynamic range, which after reading about it I'm interested in it as it'd allow for a smoother movie/TV experience as I can get some rather loud peaks which I've been forced to lower the higher freq. ranges with EQ. Noticed it has an "Output Gain" pot. Would that work with controlling the output line voltage? Or does it specifically deal with the compression? Or would this have to be used with a mixer?
"CW" means clockwise, if there are gain controls are they turned all of the way up? The amp needs x amount of input to create x amount of output. So no matter where the voltage comes from, either a higher output preamp or turning the gain controls up, it's all the same after the gain control. Many times the amp will be more quiet if the gains are full up as it pretty much removes the noisy part of the control out of the circuit.
I was going to chime in over at AudioKarma but it got kind of ...........
Craig
I was going to chime in over at AudioKarma but it got kind of ...........
Craig
Gain from PC sliders is all the way up. I have a high-end motherboard that came with a really decent sound card, but I doubt it's outputting more than a volt through the digital out. As it stands for daily TV duty, it's "loud" enough driving two 15" 4-way cabs, with each amp channel volume pot around 4 or 5 (with 10 being max). Once I go up to a 16 ohm, it's gonna need a little more kick. I have some old JVC 4" (guess they are full range with big magnets) and took 2 of them and wired 16 ohm and ran it at 10, and they didn't even distort, so it's definitely underpowering.
No idea what was going on with AK. I don't remember the last time I ever saw a feeding frenzy like that there. Oh well.
The amp channel volumes are at 4-5? I think I know why the AKers were getting short with you. You need to turn up the volumes on the AB amp, that's what we've been trying to tell you. Please understand what I'm telling you. Let's say your sound card puts out 1 volt and the AB amp needs 1 volts for full output, with your AB amp volumes at 5 you've just cut the output from the sound card in half, .5 volts. If you turn up the volumes on your AB amp ALL of the 1 volt from the sound card will get to the AB amp. With the volumes at half you are NOT using all of the sound card, I can't make it any simpler.
Max out the volumes on the AB amp and use the sound card to vary the overall volume.
Craig
Max out the volumes on the AB amp and use the sound card to vary the overall volume.
Craig
Yeah, I have. Around 6 it's loud. 10 isn't much louder, and as I've stated, it's NOT reaching rated wattage. I'm guessing it's between 100-200w per channel. It needs more pre-out voltage. It's NOT reaching 855wpc at 10.
Remembered one of my old Fisher CA-2420 Integrated could be used as a pre-amp. Since it has really low THD and very quiet overall, hooked it up and defaulted it's EQ, while using the recapped BSR as EQ.
Works great like this. Can set both amp channels between 6 and 8 while setting pre-amp to 20 or more. Gets loud now w/o going into screaming mode. Plus, the Fisher has a larger volume pot that's more sensitive, so it's easier to fine-tune. Surprisingly, the Fisher's loudness contour button works nicely with the setup.
Ran it 8 ohm for awhile and very good sound. Just connected a set of 8" woofers to the front cabs parallel and 4 ohm isn't even breaking a sweat. Definitely needed the pre-amp to fine-tune.
Works great like this. Can set both amp channels between 6 and 8 while setting pre-amp to 20 or more. Gets loud now w/o going into screaming mode. Plus, the Fisher has a larger volume pot that's more sensitive, so it's easier to fine-tune. Surprisingly, the Fisher's loudness contour button works nicely with the setup.
Ran it 8 ohm for awhile and very good sound. Just connected a set of 8" woofers to the front cabs parallel and 4 ohm isn't even breaking a sweat. Definitely needed the pre-amp to fine-tune.
This is telling you that 775mVac can take your power amplifier to clipping level.
You are unlikely to have a computer output that is less than this. Most will be between 1Vac and 2Vac.
It's not clipping. It's never been pushed hard enough to clip either. Having added a pre-amp, it ramps up slower, and is easier to tune. I can either leave amp channels around 6 or slightly higher, then have finer control over the volume. It'll also go louder than just the amp.
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