Matching amps to preamps

What should one know when trying to match an amplifier to a preamplifier?

[douglasacker]

Another great video. Thank you, Paul, for the continued education. I'm definitely buying your products. No one else is this transparent and honest about the craft.

[jayem]

While living in Japan not far from Tokyo there was a shop selling used LP’s and high end gear. I bought a used Accuphase Power Amp. They gave me a week to try it out. I paired it with a Pioneer integrated amp with Pre outs. It was ok, not great, but just ok. Went back to the shops and got the matching pre amp. Very disappointed so it was returned. My audio guy was a few hours away in Shizuoka. He sent me a Conrad-Johnson PV-3. That was magic. Speakers: SMGa’s. So in my case the matching pre wasn’t a good match.

[zubidoc]

Thank you so much Paul for the answer and for all your videos and mostly for taking care of your audience/customers ❤😊

[robh]

Good class D power seems a dream to pair - usually a high inZ which is great for passive, and that transparent sound that lets the preamp sing without 'adding' much...The gain structure and resulting noise floor can also be a consideration in general.

[johnstone]

I think one point that was missed here and can be problematic is when people attempt to match a tube preamp with a solid state amp. Pure tube preamps (not hybrid) can have two major issues that cause problems: high output impedance, and transients at turn on/off. Some tube preamps can have output impedances in the low thousands of ohms, with rising impedance at low frequencies, due to the coupling capacitor. And some have no muting circuitry at their output, allowing huge dc level shift at the output jacks at turn on, and again at turn off. Because a solid state power amp comes on almost instantly, you can't switch the amp and preamp on together. You have to always turn the preamp on first and wait for it to warm up and only then turn on the power amp. And you use the reverse sequence at turnoff. Many modern tube preamps have mute circuitry, but a lot of people still buy vintage tube preamps. And this is where the interface problems with solid state amps can really pop up.

[grumpy]

"gotta use your ears - nothing wrong w/ that"
excellent advice. quantitative measures via technical means are critical to design & engineering, & help in making important comparisons among alternatives. while there are reasons to suspect our personal "acoustic perception system", it IS the human component in the chain of how we experience pleasure through live & recorded music.

[sostatic]

Most preamps for me chnages based on is range of inputs... I'm a big fan of P.S Audio's early preamplifiers. 4.6 and 5.0 ... clinical and almost laboratory reference. My goto preamplifier in the workshop where we do vintage restorations is the Krell PAM 5. They're good and can be picked up at low $$$.

[obicancovjek]

The biggest problem with preamps is that they usually have too much gain. It would be interesting to hear something about amplifiers with germanium transistors with higher quality such as GT813V, GT806 or even better GT906A in SE topology.

[hoobsgroove]

The preamp is the most important component in the system a decent power should no problem not so important look for a preamp that has good sound stage low impedance lower the better

[krismccall]

Always great advice Paul….. now how about you speed up production on those stellar gold preamps so i can get one😂

[stimpy]

That's a great answer and the correct one IMO. Synergy Uber Ales! Your ears should tell you the rest

[rudestrudedog]

Stop the kidnapping and the rest will follow, Paul. Anyway, I know your heart is in the right place. Thanks for the video.

[alaincayer]

When having an integrated amp, is it a waste of money to buy a pre-amp as they must already have matched inside the "best" pre-amp for the amp part?

[tothemax]

Passive pre (resistor) has been the milk to my honey tube amps

[rosswarren]

Would you have any qualms with a DAC having a high output impedance of 625 Ω on RCA and 1250 Ω on XLR going into a powered preamp? Would that be too high, and if so what would it do to the sound? Thanks.

[dougg]

Can’t wait to see the subs he designs. If he is designing a sub.

[stonefree]

Paul...your FR-30 seems to have toppled...

[gdownz]

I have a Vincent SA-T7mk preamp with Stellar and Parasound amplifiers driving Polk RTI A3 and A7s and the sonics were there and enjoyable until I finally broke down and purchased a P12 power regenerator and now the entire system is GIGANTIC & ALIVE!! What a nice surprise it was to hear So Much more that I had been missing. Thank You for what you do Paul. It's a Beautiful Thing 👍

[ThinkingBetter]

Yeah, if there is an impedance matching issue when connecting via balanced or phono plugs, it's due to bad engineering.

[spacemissing]

An easy way is Buy Matching Components From The Same Manufacturer.
This is not guaranteed to be the Best method, however.