Does anyone need a preamp?

That’s were all the magic is…

What I dont understand is why that big preamp youre showing needs such a huge transformer etc, that thing looks like an amplifier with that huge transformer - I didnt think a preamplifier needed all the high power gear, I thought that high power stuff was in the amplifier-??

I have a please please please question. If I use the speaker out put wires to go to an amp does this create a problem? My denon 760 has no Pre outs. My SVS ultras right left center I’m suspect could use a little more power. At some point I will upgrade the denon 760, but I just got it in nov. Can I get by with speaker out to amp via rca adaptor? What’s the deference Pre out vs speaker out?

BIG ASS transformer

Everything old is new again. Vinyl records are making a strong comeback. I'm detecting rumblings of reel to reel coming back. I stumbled across this video is because I am looking for a way to use an older stereo receiver as a control preamp. Electronics manufacturers have dropped a lot of features that 60's/70's & 80's equipment had. One of those features is the ability to remove two jumpers from the back of the unit and separate the power amplifier from the preamp/tuner. Via those RCA jacks one could insert a graphic equalizer to tailor the sound to their liking or add a tape deck whether it be a reel to reel or cassette deck or all of these. RCA phono jacks are beginning to reappear for turntables equipped with magnetic phono cartridges.

Pre amp are for professionals

More bass and treble

I have always understood that the fewer jobs an item of HI FI does the better it does that job. so verses and an intregrated Amp with Pre and Power stages in it will do their jobs but with a higher margin of error seperate items will do . As I am a bit mean and with energy prices on the rise I am more likely to think of all the different items specially those that run hot will use will cost more to use

On a humourous note regarding my last comment why go along the route of you can have Mono block power amps so why not Mono block pre amps . The less jobs an item does the better it does it .

👌✋✌

A+

Wow, this guy is so analog man, thus he uses paper printouts from comments!

I am a separates guy, have been for a long time. My modest setup consists of the Carver M500t power amp and the NAD 1600 preamp. I've had both for over 30 years now and am still happy with both. I have owned receivers and integrated amps but I love the flexibility of separates. Thanks for the video!

A cassette is actually a mini reel to reel.

Forget the input switching. Why not to put inside one fucking potentiometer?

Ya just couldn't say McIntosh

From 🇮🇳 please tell usabout sn ratio

Hey tks for that one!

Saul goodman?

Thank you for this video. I finally have an answer ( after many years) to what a pre amp is for and now I need to know if I really need one for playing my vinyl, which for me is my only goal.

Pot in a box is my mantra .... lol :)

Paul, you mention about a preamp needing a power supply, but what is wrong with a good quality potentiometer between source and power amp?, plus the switching doesnt need power, so are you over-complicating the signal path?

Not buying it. Doesn't answer the question as you're comparing two extremes.

your voice sounds like therapy. subscribed.

Now I finally get why there are pre-amps .... now I have to go listen to a pre-amp system to hear the difference. 🙂

Paul, you say BHK but you don't say what it means. What does BHK mean? Bedroom, Hall, Kitchen? Terrible, don't abbreviate.

Once i went the separates route, i never looked back. Even more reasonable separates seem better to me than high end integrated amps

8-Tracks were still out in 74 and cassettes were starting to show up late 74 early 75. I discovered HI Fi stereo August 73 after basic and tech school when I went PCS. If you advertised in Stereo Review I probably read about your products. Back then I asked the same question about components. Your answer now has stood the test of time. 50 years!!!

Thanks for posting this but i feel like the answer given was a little circular. I'm still not clear on what a pre-amp does that is NOT covered by the POT in the amplifier. "Performance" was the only /reason/ given for having the extra physical space taken up by components that are found in existing pre-amps. "You need a preamplifier or else you'd just have a bigger amplifier". I'd be really interested in what is 'missing' from the chain between a DAC and an Amplifier that a pre-amplifier can add. What is the 'performance' that a pre-amp adds?

Flexibility.

Basically, a preamplifier is a device used to take a weak audio signal level, like 0.316 V RMS (-10 dBV), used by consumer audio equipments, and bring it up to the required line level (0.775 V RMS, 1 V RMS, 1.23 V RMS, etc) needed to drive the power amplifier to its ful rated power output.
Ideally, one would wish to have an audio source able to deliver a high output signal level between 1 V RMS and 3 V RMS, the higher the better, and match it with an amplifier with low input sensitivity (high input signal level), in order to avoid the use of an excessive amplification factor (voltage gain), which can have a negative effect on the amplifier frequency response curve (the amplifier behaves like a filter).
Personally, I prefer the use of separate dedicated audio components along the entire signal chain, connected to a high quality professional audio mixing console, using balanced connections on all inputs and outputs.
The mixing console with highly accurate level meters, allows me to monitor and feed the clean (unclipped) and required nominal signal level to the amplifier input stage and, therefore, drive the amplifier to its maximum rated power output without driving it into clipping.
The result is clean sound, amplifier thermal stability and happy loudspeakers.

No matter how many times I try to figure out what preamps are for, I always seem to forget.
Today I searched again, and ended up here, again, evident by the fact that I had clicked the "Like" button here some time in the past, yet here I am again!
This is a great explanation, and it does seem to make sense to me now (maybe like the difference between using using individual tools instead of a Swiss-army knife), but I'll probably forget again in a few weeks!
But, I think you probably have to be in a situation where you need a preamp to really understand the purpose of them, which is not the case for most people with ordinary equipment like receivers and stereos.

Why is a power suply in a preamp?

Separates sound better because they flow free😂😂😂😂😂

Ok I got that..
And I too.. finally, after 40 years understand !
thanks.
KCB🙂👍🇬🇧

Thanks, that cleared the question up for me.

I need a preamp with tubes. Because I can hear the difference tubes make. I make music. I play music. Every professional musician I ever worked with used tube amps. Even tubes in microphones. I love tube sound. Reminds me of live performances. And my Mom's HiFi console playing LP classical music records. Solid state just dont cut it for me. But digital, CD recordings of live music played back through a tube system... Yeah. No turntable for me. Not needed. But me do need tubes 😄

Paul, I wanted to offer you an honest and personal Thank you for the extensive education that you have given me, and the kind and clear and gracious manner in which you have offered it. Im going to be in your neck of the woods this summer and I will definitely come and see your facilities and perhaps even get to thank you in person. You have been a significant part of my path to the music business, a place that I now exist and find so rewarding.
Sincerely,

Bungeebill
Hood Rat Records
🎩 ✌️ 🐀 🧿

Paul-after watching this—again—
I’m just gonna come down and ask-hoping I don’t sound stupid in doing so SO:

I’m leaning towards a Yamaha RXA8A (w 2 XLRs) and thinking of getting an Emotiva XPA 3 for my front three channels-leaving the Yamaha to power / signal the other 6 speakers I plan on using. All that said, is this overkill on my part? Wouldn’t the Emotiva connect with the Yamaha thru the XLRs correctly?

Lastly-am I LISIN IT OR WHAT? Hey-I’m 71, wife gone, pup gone, music is (and has been) my solace! I just want QUALITY SOUND in my remaining years!

ANY suggestions will be TAKEN TO HEART? (I actually wanted a Marantz SR8015 but no XLRs and they’ve went to a TI DAC chip instead of the revered AKM 4458s that were in the units produced before COVID so-guess I could use the RCAs to connect as well-but and again, concerned w the DACS! The Yamaha has 2 ESS SABRE 9028s and I read (can’t HEAR anymore) that they are very good!)

Help me Buddy!

THOROUGHLY ENJOY ALL YOUR VIDEOS-

Al from Surprise, Arizona!

WHENEVER you’re in town-DINNER & DRINKS ON ME Paul!! 😉
Absolutely love to have some conversations with you Sir!!

Thanx

Curious about Paul's opinion 5 years later now that more integrated amps have hit the market. I've been using my McIntosh MA352 for the past year and I love the way it sounds 🤘

Maybe I missed something, Paul, but after watching the entire episode, I think if we take away the photo stage, aside from the dedicated power supply, the only thing the preamplifier does is switching inputs (and of course volume control), right? What am I missing?

Excellent answer to the question!

Yes you need a pramp

i read the title and thought i was going to get a free preamp,

Is using a modern yamaha aventage receiver a decent preamp if i went and got a vintage marantz or mcintosh 2 channel amp for my main L and R speakers, which are JBL 4311b's? It's a living room 5.1.2 setup I use for music and movies. I think it'd be cool to run the JBLs with something period. I think I'm gonna do it.

I enjoy watching Paul makes sense of so many questions I ask myself.

How much power do you run? . Receivers don’t give me no where near the power I need. I’m running a QSC 1000 watts per channel power amplifier into secondary units. A receiver will not and cannot deliver that power. Speakers are only as good as what you feed them doesn’t matter if it’s high end. Speaks are what they eat just like humans.

First Stereo cassette deck the PHILIPS EL3312 appeared in 1966 and by 1973 first 3 head decks made an appearance by Technics RS-279US & Sony TC177SD .

I already have preamp in my surround receiver. I think preamp is needed only if you have power amp without any selectors and tone control.