Best way to hook up my PPA to receiver?

[Jbroad572]

Ok I have an Onkyo TX-8211 receiver that powers my speakers and now I need to know the best way to hook my PPA up to it. I have inputs for Tape1 Tape 2, Phono, and CD. I like to watch tv, dvd's and listen to my movies of course through my receiver. I'm guessing my olny option is to use an adapter for my interconnects to convert the audio to 1/4 so I can use the headphone jack? I'm guessing that's the only option. Just wanted to make sure, since I know using an adpater decreases the quality. I was thinking of picking up a vintage receiver that could serve the purpose better, but I see nothing wrong with this one. I figure a nice DVD/SACD player will be next on my list.

 

[Norbert]

Don't you have a tape out on the receiver? Use that.

 

[kugino]

i'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but i think you want to connect your PPA to the receiver so you can listen to whatever component is selected, right? you should have a tape out on the receiver, which is a line-level output. attach RCAs from the tape out to the PPA and there you go.

 

[Jbroad572]

Quote:

Originally posted by kugino i'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but i think you want to connect your PPA to the receiver so you can listen to whatever component is selected, right? you should have a tape out on the receiver, which is a line-level output. attach RCAs from the tape out to the PPA and there you go.

Yea that's what I wanted to do.
Thanks, it works great. This method is better than the the headphone jack?

 

[Demolition]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jbroad572 This method is better than the the headphone jack?

Yes, definitely. The headphone jack is just not a very good connector type in reality. RCAs offer more contact area and a more beefy connection in general.

D.

 

[morsel]

The real reason not to use the headphone jack is that many if not most present a poor quality output signal, which is ostensibly the reason you are using a headphone amplifier in the first place. Since you are not attempting to drive your headphones from the receiver headphone jack, you might as well use the line level outputs, which are the appropriate source for the headphone amp.

 

[Jbroad572]

Now I have another problem, in which I will probably make another post regarding. My Headphone jack without the amp sounds better than the level out with the amp. I can't say for sure yet I've got to listen some more, but I was just playing a movie and it gets much louder, the bass is much better, and it's more involving than the PPA and level out. I do notice a lot more noise though from the headphone jack. I'm hoping I'm doing something wrong, becuase I spent close to $400 for the PPA. I will test it out and listen more later on. Anyone have any idea if the Onkyo TX-8211 has a pretty good headphone jack output?
It's a pretty cheap receiver I didn't expect it to be too good.

 

[hartphoto]

WAG...(from a noob)

Is the Tape Out of this unit affected by the Bass/Treble settings, or is it a straight 'monitor' circuit?

Maybe more in general, what is the 'norm' for manufacturers' with regards to this?

 

[Jbroad572]

Quote:

Originally posted by hartphoto WAG...(from a noob) Is the Tape Out of this unit affected by the Bass/Treble settings, or is it a straight 'monitor' circuit? Maybe more in general, what is the 'norm' for manufacturers' with regards to this?

It is a Tape-2 monitor and no the treble or bass from the receiver do not affect the sound.

 

[markl]

For best sound with your new amp, you should by-pass the receiver altogether and connect your source directly to the amp through its analog inputs with standard RCA cables. By adding the receiver to the signal path, you are degrading sound quality.

But if your PPA amp only has one set of inputs, and you want to be able to use your amp for more than just music (use other sources) you will need to use the tape outs of your receiver.

 

[nilanjan]

I don't have firsthand expeience with the Onkyo, but it is clear you are getting a lower quality signal from the tape output jacks. It could be just a difference in level, or something wrong with the tape output.

The best solution would be to bypass the receiver, as markl suggested. Either connect the source directly to the headphone amp, or add a pair of splitters to the source output jacks. Connect one set of RCA cables from the splitters to the receiver, and the other pair to the headphone amp.

 

[mulveling]

That's weird. A while back I had a similar problem with the tape output on my H/K AVR225 receiver - it was like the bass went AWOL. Absolutely unlistenable. And of course the headphone jack was much better, but still crappy overall.

Now none of my audio stuff touches a receiver. I agree with the others, the quality of your headphones/amp deserves much better.

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

What are you talking about connecting the ICs directly to the receiver, being a newbie I'm mildly confused. For example, for my soon-to-arrive Azur/PPA set up, what is best? Straight from the line-outs to the PPA, no?

 

[Jbroad572]

Well, after hooking it up directly to my dvd/cd player it's a lot better. It definately gets just as loud as my receiver, well the receiver gets louder, but not by much, but that volume really hurts, so it won't be cranked to the max like that, I was just curious. My dvd player is only worth like $50 and I'm using cheap IC's that came with it, so I can only imagine when I get my new dvd/cd player and interconnects it will be a lot better. Well I'm going to keep it like this, although I would like to use it with my Xbox and tv occasionally. I guess I can just plug it in through the receiver when I need to.

 

[BrokenEnglish]

alternatively you could use a sort of "switchbox" between sources and receiver/ppa like this ...