May I borrow this thread? Perhaps Herman can clear my head. I have a stereo amp that is rated at 250 watts per channel in to 8 Ohms with 26.6 db of gain. What is the amps sensitivty?
Preamp gain vs. poweramp sensitivity
Hello,
Just purchased an Art Audio Carissa which has input sens. of 600mV (very high). At first, I was thinking that I would want a high-gain pre because the Carissa puts out only 16W/ch and could benefit from some preamp gain.
However, I believe upon considering the sensitivity that a high-gain pre is NOT desired because:
1) I would need to open the VC only a bit before the Carissa was driven to full power.
2) For the above reason, the high-gain is wasted anyway because the pre wouldn't be able to put out what it's capable of without overdriving the Carissa.
Do I have this straight? The relation of gain to voltage is not clear to me. The preamp is specified as outputting 2V yet, with a standard 2V source, that is actually unity gain! So what exactly does "20db of gain" in a preamp mean?
Thanks for clarification on this question.
Paul
Just purchased an Art Audio Carissa which has input sens. of 600mV (very high). At first, I was thinking that I would want a high-gain pre because the Carissa puts out only 16W/ch and could benefit from some preamp gain.
However, I believe upon considering the sensitivity that a high-gain pre is NOT desired because:
1) I would need to open the VC only a bit before the Carissa was driven to full power.
2) For the above reason, the high-gain is wasted anyway because the pre wouldn't be able to put out what it's capable of without overdriving the Carissa.
Do I have this straight? The relation of gain to voltage is not clear to me. The preamp is specified as outputting 2V yet, with a standard 2V source, that is actually unity gain! So what exactly does "20db of gain" in a preamp mean?
Thanks for clarification on this question.
Paul
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- 22 posts total
- 22 posts total