Amplifier questions...

[Slackmaster2K]

1) It was mentioned to me that a power amplifier wants to work at full power, and that volume should be controlled before the power amp. Is this by explicit design? If the output quailty of an amplifier varies with amplification level, then is full volume the design target for optimum quality, or is it some physical property of amplification that makes this so?

2) Integrated amplifiers combine a preamp and a power amp. I have a cool old NAD 3020 integrated amplifier that allows me to bypass the preamp and tap right into the power stage. Is it likely that this would be beneficial?

3) If I run my signal into the auxillary input of the integrated amp's preamp, would I crank the volume up to max and control the volume before the amp, as I mentioned in #1? It seems to me that I wouldn't, and by doing so I'd just be adding an extra fader to the signal...and depending on the design of the preamp, I could certainly overload it.

4) Input to the amp is from a Delta44, a semi-average 24bit soundcard. Does anyone know specificly if the output volume control of the delta is digital or analog? If it is digital, then I should probably leave it at 100% right? If I leave it at 100%, and I wanted to run the signal directly to the power stage of my amp, I'd need some sort of fader. I was thinking about getting the (gasp) Mackie 1202VLZ because the mic pre's get Scott Dorsey's stamp of adequacy, and I could use the routing options. Or I could just leave the delta at 100% and run the signal into the aux channel of my amp's preamp, and control the volume there (e.g. #3 above). I'm not sure if this is the same question anymore

Slackmaster 2000

[PapillonIrl]

Good questions....

like to hear some answers to those myself.


pAp.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Slackmaster from Koozbane 2: [Bet you don't know from what famous tv show the word, "Koozbane," comes from?]

I use a Yamaha integrated amp to run my entire studio. So, I'm a rookie but the amp works great.

It has plugs for two tape decks going in either direction; recording to either, a CD plug, plus plugs for two sets of speakers, Am/FM, phono, an AUX plug and a "free through" switch which by passes the amp and any coloration when mixing down to the monitors. What else could you ask for?

Ah, there are many other much better rigs I suppose, but mine works fine for me. And, I get some good results mixing down to tape. The CD direct is my next piece of gear.



Green Hornet

[Blue Bear Sound]

For a studio power amp such as a Hafler, the amp runs at its rated power, but input sensitivity is controlled by the dials at the front - this amounts to a pad on the inputs before it hits the power amp - it doesn't change the amp's operating level.

In home-audio gear, where you have an integrated amplifier, the situation can be different. The taper of the volume control in an integrated amp usually means that the amp's full power is being obtained at the 12:00 o'clock position.

So in using a home-audio integrated amp in the control room - I would set the amp at the 12:00 o'clock position and control the level from a mixer's monitor level pot.

Sorry - I can't help you with #4 - I don't have a Delta (or any!) soundcard....

Bruce