2. home-theater
  3. 1441597738

High quality pre-amp improve sound processor

I'm building a high quality 2 channel rig in my home theater. I'm wondering if I have my sound processor go into the 2 channel preamp does the sound quality improve or take on the flavor of the 2 channel pre-amp? I read about tube buffers and such that's placed before the amps give more tube like sound. I'm wondering if it's the same going through a high quality pre-amp with the volume still controlled by the sound processor. I would think the pre-amp would affect the sound kind of like op-amp rolling.
marshmellow
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,680 posts
 
How can it not affect the sound if the signal is being passed through it? The idea is to use a preamp that is more transparent and less colored than an AV prepro/AVR.
68pete
1,001 posts
 
It would depend on your preamp. A lot of high end preamps have a home theater pass through. Where the signal receives no attention form the preamp. And the home theater processor would still control the volume. They do this so you can have your 2 channel system be part of the home theater. Such as the amp you use in the 2 channel system and your front speakers form the 2 channel system. With out a passthrough i think you would have the 2 gain stages(preamp volume and processor volume) working against each other.
enjoy
zd542
5,339 posts
 
When you build a system for both HT and 2 channel, the HT processor is usually the biggest bottleneck for getting quality 2 channel sound. Like others have said, get a good 2 channel preamp with an HT passthrough.
More to discover