monitors and pre-amps.

[noiseportrait]

I'm upgrading from my crappy roland powered monitors to either some passive yorkvilles or event 20/20s. The reason I decided to switch to a passive setup is because I got a great deal on a hafler power amp and pre-amp, and I also thought it would be cool to be able to switch between several passive sets of speakers using one amplifier. I just have a few questions about how to acomplish this. First of all, the hafler power amp came with a separate pre amp unit, and I was wondering If I should run my signal through the pre-amp too, or just directly into the power amp. It seems that I see a lot of studios with power amps for their monitors, but no pre amp. Is there a reason for this? If it is possible, I would like to use the pre amp because it has a signal attenuator on it and I could therefor bypass my crappy mixer which I am using for my monitor level control now. I was also wondering how I could hook up several speakers to the amp so that I could switch between them? The amp only has 1 set of speaker connections, and I was hoping that there would be some way of branching off of them without too much signal deterioration. I only need to run 1 set of speakers at a time.

[futurestar]

I would definitely bypass the preamp. Power amp to speakers will be cleaner.

[MISTERQCUE]

Originally Posted by futurestar

I would definitely bypass the preamp. Power amp to speakers will be cleaner.

That may be somewhat ideal but in my wierdness, I prefer to use a preamp instead.

Yo' noisey-p, I incorporate 3 pairs of passive monitors in my set-up (E-20's, Tannoy Reveals and Proto J's) all hooked up to 3 separate power amps (QSC,Crown and a Pyramid), all driven by a GemSI GX pre (small audio Co based in NYC) that come's equipped with 3 outputs allowing me to connect each pwr amp. Though this approach is more expensive along with "learning" each monitors perf in the particular configuration while also "tuning my ears", it gives me greater control & flexibility during multiple monitoring situations.

A less expensive way is using a speaker-selector box that allows one to connect 2,3 or more sets of speakers to one amp. Radio Whack sells these units starting around $19 and up.

[deafen]

I second the RS speaker selector. The four-way one is supposedly "high power" (i.e., it can handle 100 W/ch). I use it to select between my nearfields, a set of home stereo speakers, and a set of big PA mains. Very convenient, and inexpensive.