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What is the Sound of Impedence Mismatch?

As I understand it, you want your power amplifier to have an input impendence much higher than the output impedence of your preamp, at least 10x. Can anyone tell me what the sonic symptoms are of a mismatch? If I'm hovering around 10x, what might I hear that would indicate an impedence mismatch as opposed to, say, a preamp that is simply too bright or whatever?
drubin
drubin OP
3,285 posts
 
Thanks for all the input everybody. It's the damndest thing, but the brightness has gone away. I loaned the First Sound to a friend for a few days, and ever since its return it has not sounded bright at all with the Pass amp.

This hobby can be so maddening sometimes!

--dan
drubin OP
3,285 posts
 
And now, the First Sound sounds too dull and soft with the Pass. These days I am using a 4M run of interconnect, which could be a factor. Or I could be losing my mind.

Dan
drubin OP
3,285 posts
 
Nine months later, I still wrestle with these same issues. The First Sound sometimes sounds too dull (or soft) and sometimes it's plenty alive. Honestly, I think it is variability in my hearing that does this. How can it be that one week I'm ready to sell all my tube gear and the next I want to dump the solid state? That's why I still have both.

dan
unsound
7,362 posts
 
May I suggest you look up the thread: How to match ohms with amps & preamps
drubin OP
3,285 posts
 
Thank you for the pointer to your earlier post, unsound.

I have a simple multimeter. Is it possible to measure the input and output impedences of my components with the meter? (I ask this because there is no publshed spec for my Pass amp in single-ended mode.)
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