At this point it's an old Hafler P1000. Spec sheet says 29dB gain.
The 'audio source controller' is an old Niles Audio input switchbox followed by a Dave Slagle autoformer volume control. (Are you sure you don't want to start throwing rotten vegetables at me?)
About 10 years ago my PP 2A3 developed some problems after 25 years of use so I decided to completely rebuild it. Got started and then I let that project drift away...
I just checked the specs on a cheap Behringer A800 Class D power amp. It says its gain is 41dB from its unbalanced RCA inputs. Wow, that's a whole lotta of gain for an amp!
The 'audio source controller' is an old Niles Audio input switchbox followed by a Dave Slagle autoformer volume control. (Are you sure you don't want to start throwing rotten vegetables at me?)
About 10 years ago my PP 2A3 developed some problems after 25 years of use so I decided to completely rebuild it. Got started and then I let that project drift away...
I just checked the specs on a cheap Behringer A800 Class D power amp. It says its gain is 41dB from its unbalanced RCA inputs. Wow, that's a whole lotta of gain for an amp!
Ditto. Can buy 'em on EBay all day long for $200 or less. A few inputs and a volume control, with 0% distortion and no noise.
Hello Mr. Pass,
I had an Adcom GFA555 power amp in the 80s that I still have fond memories of.
I remember that it was very powerful and didn't cost too much, and it sounded so very good.
I bought it thanks to an excellent review by Bebo Moroni (R.I.P.) who wrote for the Italian magazine AudioReview at the time.
I don't remember the preamp I paired it with, though.
Maybe it was a Rotel.
However, I noticed that some comments in this thread referring to the use of a buffer between DAC and power amp (assuming I understood it correctly) and also you said to use a buffer and I would like to kindly ask you why you use it and which model it is (if it's not a your own design).
I ask you also to indirectly have your authoritative opinion about my belief that a buffer is not always useful, and that in some cases it could even worsen compared to an already good coupling of the DAC output with the power amp.
Just as an example, my DAC has an output impedance of 200 Ohm and my power amplifier an input impedance of 104k Ohm so, as far as I know, no buffer would be needed, but my knowledge about it is just what it is.
However, since I believe that the addition of a not required device on the signal path can hardly improve the signal itself coming out of the entire chain then I would like to know what you think, if you want to hopefully reply to me.
An answer from you it will be for me the most authoritative answer possible out there.
I have a FE 2022 set to unity gain, then built into my F6 amp. It handles balanced in from a Topping D30 pro. I use the Topping as a preamp with currently two sources in.
Balanced to unbalanced conversion will give you 6 dB gain. Add that to the 14 dB gain from the F6 and the system will have a total of about 20 dB gain.
Using normal listening levels the volume controls are set to about -20, but of course this varies based on the source and what "app" is running.
Adding the FE made a huge improvement to the soundstage, either because balanced out is that much better or for some other reason.
Balanced to unbalanced conversion will give you 6 dB gain. Add that to the 14 dB gain from the F6 and the system will have a total of about 20 dB gain.
Using normal listening levels the volume controls are set to about -20, but of course this varies based on the source and what "app" is running.
Adding the FE made a huge improvement to the soundstage, either because balanced out is that much better or for some other reason.
Interesting, thanks for your reply, even though I don't know what a FE 2022 is...
This is one of the points: the system sounds better, but we still don't know the reason? 🤔