cliveb;692352 Wrote: > I am one of those who believes in using only a power amp. The > fundamental rationale is that of all the electronic components there > are in a HiFi system, the preamp is the least transparent and it's > therefore worth eliminating it. > > The crucial step in connecting a Squeezebox directly to a power amp is > setting what's known as the "gain staging" right. To aim here is to > arrange things so that when the Squeezebox's own volume control is at > maximum, the playback is as loud as you'll ever want (but no louder). > Then just use the Squeezebox's volume control for day-to-day > adjustment. The only time you'll turn it down so far that it may affect > the quality will be when you're just playing stuff quietly as > background, in which case the slight loss of quality isn't really an > issue. > > Some power amps *do* have volume controls, some others have presets you > can adjust. Just set these once and you're done. For power amps that > don't have volume controls, you will probably need to insert some > passive attenuators, which you can either buy (typically a few tens of > dollars/pounds/euros) or make yourself (for a few > dollars/pounds/euros). > > See this wiki page for a more detailed discussion: > http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Connecting_directly_to_a_power_amplifier
Well said. The classdaudio amps have built in volume controls on the back, which are perfect for this purpose. When I was using the McCormack amp with the squeezebox, I used a pair of Endler attenuators: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4c5pt/ I'm sure there are other places to get stepped attenuators, but this worked for me. -- totoro sb touch -> classdaudio sds-450 -> audio physic tempo 4 + rel storm 3 & rythmik f12se ------------------------------------------------------------------------ totoro's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5935 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93776 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
