Question about pre-amps
 

Im pretty new to the forum, but im in love with my HT.

Even though I love my HT, and know a little more than the average human, im still pretty clueless about the whole pre-amp concept.

What exactly is a preamp? I know it hooks into your reciever, but is it an actual amp, or do you plug an amp into it?

You can use other recievers as amps? If I have a 100 x 5 watt reciever, but Im not using it, I can hook it into my primary receiver and use it as an amp just for my sub?

Also, can ANY receiver have an amp hooked into it, and can any reciever be used as an amp?

Thanks for your help.


Thanks again

I don't own a preamp, but I will try and help.

The receiver is a preamp, amp, and tuner (radio) in one.

A preamp hooks into a amp.

A preamp controls audio switching, video switching, and DD and DTS decoding. It also adjusts the volume of various sources. I'm sure it does a lot more things that I don't know about. It basically processes the sources to prepare them for amplification.

You can use some receivers as a preamp by hooking up an amp to the preamp outputs.

Yeah what Skar said:)

can I use an old whole reciever (500W or so) to amp one channel of the reciever im currently using?

Hi BMoore09,

I agree with everything Skar just said and here's my additional $.02 of info.

For HT you're not going to find a lot of preamps. Preamps are more popular in the audiophile world where a lot of tweeking is necessary to get that ultimate sound. By having seperate components you have more flexibility to mix and match to get the best combination you want. Preamps are usually better b/c they are designed and builded for one specific purpose. So they get better parts and better circuitry. This also explains why you're not going to find pre/pro stuff at BB or CC.

Hope this helps.

I made the jump to seperates a while ago, and will never look back. The flexibilty for upgrades, swapping out components and sheer sonic superiority over a receiver ( IMHO) is what made me a believer.

What did you go separate in? The preamp, amp and what else? Is there a big enough difference in the time/technology to do this?

I agree seperates are the way to go if you can afford it. I had a seperates system but sold it all when I moved to help pay the expenses.

My old system
Acurus Act-3
Acurus 200x3 amp
Acurus 200x2 amp
Paradigm Monitor 7's for main
Paradigm Monitor 5's for rear
Paradigm CC-350 for center
Proton 120x2 amp for 2 12" passive subs


My current setup:
Toshiba SD-6109 DVD Player/Receiver(only 60x5 watts)
Paradigm Atom mains
Paradigm CC-70 rears
Paradigm CC-200 center
Dynaco 410 300x2 amp for 2 12"passive subs


My proposed new system
Outlaw 950 or Anthem AVM 2
Outlaw 1070 200x7 amp or Anthem MCA 5 200x5 amp
Paradigm LCR-450 all around
Keep the Dynaco amp, but upgrade the woofers in the subs


As you can see I went from seperates to a very modest system. Although I like my smaller system I NEED to go back to seperates. I agree that the fexibility and sonic superiority is what makes seperates the way to go.


BMoore09,

If your current receiver has a pre-outs for the channels you need to amplify run an RCA from those channels to an input on the old receiver, say the CD input, and then hook up the speakers to the old receiver.