The future of preamps

Michael (Swampwalker) & Charles, thanks very much for the nice words.

12-14-13: Audiolabyrinth
Almarg, Can you look into this for me, the spec of 18 volts input to clip, this is the max input told to me over the phone by krell, you can do more of the math and engineering calcalating for me to find a explanation for me?, LOL!, I will never use over 10 volts to input anyway!, just currious to know my amp,, when I said that the 3.58 is the min that krell told me, they said that because all of their pre-amps put out around 6 to 8 volts for balanced operation, and this will not do nothing harmful to the krell 700cx, its the normal that I am told by krell if useing a krell pre-amp

Keith, the comments and calculations I already provided are based on a thorough look at the manual and the specs, so anything further I might add regarding the 18 volt number would be highly speculative.

A speculative guess that comes to mind, though, is that perhaps it represents how much voltage the input circuitry of the amp can tolerate without the possibility of damage when the amp is in standby mode, or is turned completely off, or both.

Regarding "their pre-amps put out around 6 to 8 volts for balanced operation," keep in mind that what any preamp puts out is dependent on the setting of the volume control, and on how much voltage is sent into the preamp by the source component, as well as on the gain of the particular preamp (preamp "gain" being the relation between its output and input voltages when the volume control is turned all the way up). So it's a bit misleading to speak of a preamp as putting out 6 to 8 volts, or any other particular number.

Also, as Ralph and I both indicated earlier, the MAXIMUM output voltage spec that is often provided for preamps should be (and usually is) much higher than the highest output voltage that the preamp would ever be called upon to put out under reasonable usage conditions.

Regards,
-- Al

@ Almarg, Hi, Thankyou very much, I have enjoyed your help, I know who to look up for all things audio now, I hope you do not mind if I ever needed some help, I may be able to ask you for it, Happy Holidays.

@ swampwalker, Hi, sorry my post did not meet your standards of puntuations, LOL!,, never knew I needed to be thorough!, It's ok, I do not care to be so thorough with posting on a thread, of course If I were writting a book to make money, I would care to do better!, You gave me a good laugh, I needed that, Happy Holidays to you.

I'd wager whether "Bit stripping" of the signal with 24-bit digital dithered volume controls isn't mostly of academic order (32-bit dittos wouldn't, in this regard, pose any in-use limitiations, at all) - that is, where it is stated it's very often based on a theoretical non-listening experience foundation. Only high sensitive speakers and high-gain combinations could tend to pose a possible sonic limitation here, and highly sensitive speakers is not what overflows the market as is.. For what it's worth my own setup includes moderately sensitive speakers (~93dB), and it sounds terrific at lower volumes with the digital volume attenuation named above.

If for whatever reason one doesn't like the final sonic outcome where digital attenuation is involved without a separate hardware preamp, the bit stripping (i.e.: truncation) is by all accounts not a factor as much, or at all as the totality of this implementation; if one has carefully tuned a setup through the use of a hardware preamp the negation of this preamp (leaving in its place a software-based digital ditto) could easily tilt the sound in a direction reflecting back negatively on the preamp as a source of more or less outspoken coloration and synergy-effect, than what is an inherent limitation of its digital stand-in solution. I'd rather rid my setup of a hardware preamp so long as the analog output stage of the source can be made to drive the poweramp suitable (which is certainly possible) - hereby doing the same as the hardware preamp, yet without an extra hardware component and set of cables.

@ Phusis, Hi, Are you useing a 32 bit source direct to amp?