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Need a quieter amp than the Tomahawk

post #1 of 7
8/19/07 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
I have E500s right now which are 36 ohms. With these and my Ipod I find that they are just a tad too loud at the absolute lowest volume setting in a quiet environment. In noisy places I only adjust the volume up very slightly and it's plenty.

With the Tomahawk at low gain, they are too loud at any volume setting, at least until the left ear (unacceptably IMO) gets quieter before the right one does.

Now, I can deal with this, however, I plan on buying UE-11s soon, which run at 18 ohms, which means they'll be twice as loud!

The Tomahawk size is ok, but smaller is better. Price isn't really an issue.
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post #2 of 7
8/19/07 at 6:57am
Maybe you can try adding an impedance adapter between the Tomahawk and your phones.

Like theses: http://apuresound.com/images/cables/icoa.html
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post #3 of 7
8/19/07 at 7:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tom10167 View Post
Now, I can deal with this, however, I plan on buying UE-11s soon, which run at 18 ohms, which means they'll be twice as loud!
Resistance doesn's say anything about loudness. For instance, the K1000 is 120 Ohm and an efficiency of 74 db/mW while the HD650 is 300 Ohm and has an efficiency of 103 db/mW.

The HD650 will go way louder then the K1000 with the same amp.
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post #4 of 7
8/19/07 at 1:35pm
There's no such thing as an amp quieter than the tomahawk. On the tomahawk's low gain setting it has a gain of 1, meaning it doesnt add anything to the volume, the same volume that is coming in is going out. The only possible way I can see to get it quieter is to attenuate the sound through an adapter either in-between the source and the tomahawk or the tomahawk and the headphones
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post #5 of 7
8/19/07 at 2:35pm
I have a Cardas attenuater if you want it. Just pm me.
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post #6 of 7
8/19/07 at 3:21pm
It's probably better to add a voltage divider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_divider) between your iMod and Tomahawk instead, so you don't mess with damping and impedance mismatch. This is what a volume control would have done. If there's a noise problem with the TH, you'll do better with the voltage divider between amp and phone as recommended above.
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post #7 of 7
8/19/07 at 3:41pm
The channel imbalance thing hasn't been covered yet from the OP.

I find that unsatisfactory. My Go-Vibe 5 does that, but his shouldn't. Is that common with the Tomahawk?
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