What is the Sound of Impedence Mismatch?

hey again
Sorry I got my lines crossed on my last post! I meant the problem with the balanced connection is that it doubles the OUTPUT impedance (as well as the input but that is beneficial as I described later on) of the component. I should reread my post before submitting but alas..! Now you must be really lost! ;) Arthur

So if the Pass amp is 22K balanced, it is 11K single ended? And with 1700 ohms output impedence on the First Sound preamp, my situation is sub-optimal, right?

Drubin, It appears as though you have a poor match. I hate to confuse you any more but your cables can effect this equation as well. Would you mind posting the rest of your system?

11k would be right (provided Pass did not do something unconventional but I cannot think of what that may be). 1700 ohm preamp is on the high side-11k for an amp is not too bad. If you could hook up your system to an oscilloscope you could find out for sure. Mismatches like this show up as a quasi-sinusoidal wave in the pass band (instead of a totally flat one) which causes excess distortion to the signal - easy to see on an oscope. I would think you are indeed getting distortion. Good luck - Arthur

Thanks guys.

I use HT Pro Silway II 2M interconnects between the two.