Al, Thank you for the corrections. I am sorry I misstated your previous comments. As you can see despite being involved in audio for 40 years, I am ignorant of this XLR technology
Let me clarify. a few mistaken points I mentioned before either on this thread or previous one I spoke to Mark O"Brien at Rogue Audio today. He informed me that "Line 3" of the Sphinx integrated is an input, not an output. There is an area on the back of the Rogue Sphinx sectioned off that has a variable and fixed output The "variable" output is the one he recommended for hooking up the BAT VK-200 amp, So you have out of the pre-amp stage into the BAT amp, and the signal travels through the speaker wires to the speaker. OK.
I also mentioned to Mark what you noted about losing signal strength up to approx 50 %, and Mogami 's claim that using an XLR to RCA connector will not reduce the noise produced by an RCA to RCA IC. It will stay the same. Mark is not a fan of XLR ICs. More or unless claiming they will produce only some reduction of noise. He also noted that a fully balanced pre-amp will cost a lot of money. A member however claims there is a BAT 31SE for sale on AG for $1000. (Hare to believe, unless it is an "as is" piece).
I don't really do not need a fully balanced pre-amp According to you, just I will need two cable XLR outputs for the BAT amp, and two XLR output cables from the Ayre CD player to the XLR inputs on the pre-amp. I hope I got this correct this time
BTW, I believe on another thread, I was asking about the variable output. and you consulted the Sphinx manual. I responded to both you and think "Mensch", but my response was lost in Audiogon cyberspace.
In this lost e-mail, I mentioned that I had called Rogue, and was told by one of the techs that variable( pre-out) output runs through an "op-amp", and not the "tubed" section of the Sphinx pre-amp stage. He also noted the sound may not be quite as good, with a minimal loss of sound quality. O'Brien more or less confirmed the same fact to me in today's conversation I mentioned in my e-mail that unless I am wrong the so-called pre-out was not a true or standard pre-out like the one in the Creek 5350SE Classic which I owned about 7 years ago, using it with a pair of Red Dragon M-500 Class D mono block amps.
However, I don't know if op-amps are a standard design component for pre-amp outs on integrated amps in which you can separate the amp from the pre-amp stage. O'Brien claims that using variable pre-out on the Sphinx will still allow control of volume and other features on the integrated amp
BTW, I mentioned before that about one year ago, I changed out the two standard tubes in the Sphinx to Mullards 4003CV tubes. This was recommended by a member who claimed it cut "much" of the glare, and brightness from the sound which was an artifact of the Hypex spinoff of class D amplification. It did work as billed by the member.
NOTE: the Sphinx v.1 manual is poor. There is no photos or line drawings of the back of the amp. They can do better!
I think I am somewhat back to Square One because one of benefits of XLR to XLR interconnects was the reduction of noise. I did buy the BAT VK-200 amp The deal was too good to turn down. Thanks again for all you advice and comments....... Jim
