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Using full sized integrated amp

post #1 of 346
5/27/08 at 11:02pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone use a full size speaker amp to drive headphones? I recently pulled my Pioneer SA 9500 II out of storage and it sounds pretty good with my W1000s.
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post #2 of 346
5/27/08 at 11:56pm
I've wondered that myself, but never got around to trying it. Be interested to hear what other's take on it is.

-john
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post #3 of 346
5/28/08 at 12:25am
Yes. I use the the vintage Marantz 2270 (ca. 1971) and the headphone jack is excellent. Not only is it clear, it makes the sound a little more 3-D like and has a smooth round tone. It's very good and more impressive than the average headphone jack to say the least.

The speaker output seems to have a cleaner sound though. But it could also be my speakers which are vintage Marantz speakers as well.
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post #4 of 346
5/28/08 at 1:09am
You mean using the speaker outputs to power your cans? It can be done, but You'll need either a special transformer ( so you don't kill your cans) or K1000s......
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post #5 of 346
5/28/08 at 1:21am
You could drive this guy's cans without a transformer...

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f10/ra...t-48-a-329405/
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post #6 of 346
5/28/08 at 1:43am
Thread Starter 
No, using the headphone jack. I've got Scott 166s (Kinda a vintage setup) hooked up to the speaker terminals. Very nice sounding, both the speakers and the W1000s. The cans are very dynamic and have a lot of punch hooked up to this thing. I don't dare set the volume dial above about 1/4 of the way up though.
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post #7 of 346
5/28/08 at 1:46am
I use an old (1984 vintage) NAD 1020A pre-amp headphone socket, sounds great and it's also a very powerful headphone out and can drive just about anything with a plug on it.
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post #8 of 346
5/28/08 at 1:55am
I use my Almarro integrated speaker out to K1000, and now headphone out to a DT880-600ohm. I also use a Bryston B60R integrated speaker out to HD650.
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post #9 of 346
5/28/08 at 2:16am
I was using the jack from my ROTEL RA-05 intergrated amp before i knew headphone amps existed. I actually tried it again the other day to compare to my headphone amp and it sounded really good, not far off the headphone amp at all! Very suprising and i'm more impressed with ROTEL now. I actually thought about selling the headphone amp to fund other things and use the ROTEL for a while, it was that good. The ROTEL also has treble/bass control which is great when i need it. Still, the TALISMAN T-35HP is a very fine dual mono amp with preamp function, and remains my favourite for phones. If your happy with the intergrated amp, use it!
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post #10 of 346
5/28/08 at 8:02am
I use an early 70s Harman Kardonn A-401 integrated as a headphone amp, and it sounds wonderful -- powerful, big effortless bass, a bit on the warm, "tubey" side for SS. I picked up a 70s Kenwood receiver for my dad at a garage sale a few weeks ago and it had a powerful, sweet headphone section as well. You have to be careful about the vintage when doing this though, because the thing that makes them good headamps is that they use the main amps, stepped down through a resistor, instead of a completely separate circuit with a cheap op amp. I don't know when the mainstream manufacturers started going to op amps. To be safe, I'd stick with the old silver-faced stuff from the 70s, myself. Sometimes it needs service -- cleaning, replacement of leaking caps...have your tech check that resistor if you're using it as a headphone amp, but even with service they can be great headamps for little money.

Tim
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post #11 of 346
5/28/08 at 12:49pm
Not currently, but I have certainly done so at several occasions in the past.
Example my Doxa 70 Signature (70W class A/B speaker amplifier), driving the SR-007 through an SRD-7 MK2. Worked like a charm!
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post #12 of 346
5/28/08 at 2:12pm
Check out my signature.

I plug my K501 on my Rotel pre amp. But I just DIYed an adapter to plug the headphone to the speaker out of my Carver power amp. Still figuring out what are the sound differences, but apparently not as much as I expected.

May be the Rotel is really good?
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post #13 of 346
5/28/08 at 3:25pm
Other than the danger of accidentally bumping the volume too high, what are the dangers/problems with using the speaker outputs?

What are the potential strategies for volume correction? Resistors?

-john
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post #14 of 346
5/28/08 at 4:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Navyblue View Post
Check out my signature.

I plug my K501 on my Rotel pre amp. But I just DIYed an adapter to plug the headphone to the speaker out of my Carver power amp. Still figuring out what are the sound differences, but apparently not as much as I expected.

May be the Rotel is really good?
Maybe. Likely, even. I think I've read that some of the better contemporary manufacturers still use the old methodology of powering headphone sections with the main amps through a resistor in integrateds and receivers. Could be that your Rotel pre is set-up similarly, that it draws its power from the amp it is hooked up to and sends it to the headphone jack through a resistor or two instead of using a cheap op amp.

Where did you get your DIY instructions, by the way?

Tim
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post #15 of 346
5/28/08 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfarney View Post
I use an early 70s Harman Kardonn A-401 integrated as a headphone amp, and it sounds wonderful -- powerful, big effortless bass, a bit on the warm, "tubey" side for SS. I picked up a 70s Kenwood receiver for my dad at a garage sale a few weeks ago and it had a powerful, sweet headphone section as well. You have to be careful about the vintage when doing this though, because the thing that makes them good headamps is that they use the main amps, stepped down through a resistor, instead of a completely separate circuit with a cheap op amp. I don't know when the mainstream manufacturers started going to op amps. To be safe, I'd stick with the old silver-faced stuff from the 70s, myself. Sometimes it needs service -- cleaning, replacement of leaking caps...have your tech check that resistor if you're using it as a headphone amp, but even with service they can be great headamps for little money.

Tim
Maybe this is why is sounds so good, this thing is an old beast. If you have the electrical schematic for your amp you can likely check this. For instance I think I was looking at a new NAD integrated schematic the other day and saw that the headphone jack came right of the main amplifier section.
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