Headphone Amp Connection Question

Bill,

A headphone headamp is a stereo device, so all you need to do is connect it to one of the receiver's stereo inputs with a decent pair of RCA cables. From looking at Yamaha's web page for your receiver: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/aventage/rx-a700_black__u/?mode=model, it looks like either "Audio1" or "Audio2" are your best bets. Read your owner's manual to confirm this.

You might look into the Schiit Asgard headamp: http://schiit.com/products/asgard/, it's in the $200 range and supposed to be very good and they give you a free 15 day, no questions asked try out period. No experience with AKGs, so I'd search these forums for more info.

EDIT: Bill, I made a bad assumption in the above answer , please read my 2nd post for what, I believe, is a correct answer to your question about hook up. Apologies.
Edited by Rizlaw - 12/14/10 at 9:41am

The problem with connecting your amp like this is that it probably won't.mute your speakers.

Sine your receiver has a headphone Jack, maybe an amp might not mAke that much of a difference

XXII,

You're, of course, correct, and I didn't notice that the receiver had a headphone jack which would most likely cut the speaker outputs when headphones are connected. However, I think you'll agree that such a headphone jack is usually inferior, in sound quality, to a dedicated headphone amp and the OP did say that he wanted to connect a headphone amp to the receiver.

I, therefore, need to amend my first response to correct an error on connection advice. It now appears to me that the OP intends to use his receiver as a multi "source" for his headphone amp. In this case, connecting to either the receiver's "Audio1/2" inputs would be the wrong way to connect the headphone amp.

Bill needs to connect the input of his headphone amp to the receiver's "Audio out" or "Front Out". In this way his headphone amp's input will receive the Yamaha's audio output signal from whatever source he selects from the receiver's front panel input selector. Without knowing what the receiver manual says about these two outputs, I'm guessing that "Audio Out" would be the better choice, since it's probably a 2 channel mix down of any multi channel audio. Whereas, "Front Out" might only be the front channel audio of a multi channel source like SACD, DVD or Bluray.

Again, keep in mind what XXII pointed out, speaker volume may still be an issue. Bill will have to look at his manual to see if there is a way to defeat speaker output when listening to headphones in this manner. I fear that simply turning down the speaker volume (attenuator) control may also lower the volume of the "Audio Out" put. On the other hand, if "Audio Out" is a "line out" then it might not.
Edited by Rizlaw - 12/14/10 at 9:35am