Ralph hasn’t responded yet about the dbm question I raised, so I did some further research and it appears that what I said was correct. dbm in this context represents decibels above 1 milliwatt into 600 ohms. So the voltage numbers I calculated were correct.
It also happens that the 0.775 volt maximum output of the Technics deck that was referred to corresponds to 0 dbm, since 0.775 volts into 600 ohms corresponds to 1 milliwatt.
So the bottom line is that with some combinations of tape decks and power amps it will be possible for the power amp to be driven to full power, and with some combinations it will not be possible. Generally speaking a problem is likeliest to arise in cases in which the amp is high powered (and most or all of its power capability is actually required by the user, at least occasionally), since there tends to be a **loose** correlation between the power capability of various amplifiers and the input voltages required to drive them to full power. Although there are many exceptions to that, of course, where a higher powered amp may require less input voltage to be driven to full power than a lower powered amp.
Regards,
-- Al
It also happens that the 0.775 volt maximum output of the Technics deck that was referred to corresponds to 0 dbm, since 0.775 volts into 600 ohms corresponds to 1 milliwatt.
So the bottom line is that with some combinations of tape decks and power amps it will be possible for the power amp to be driven to full power, and with some combinations it will not be possible. Generally speaking a problem is likeliest to arise in cases in which the amp is high powered (and most or all of its power capability is actually required by the user, at least occasionally), since there tends to be a **loose** correlation between the power capability of various amplifiers and the input voltages required to drive them to full power. Although there are many exceptions to that, of course, where a higher powered amp may require less input voltage to be driven to full power than a lower powered amp.
Regards,
-- Al