[ZzBOG]

Hi,
I am getting a power amp and wonder if that is possible to connect EMU0404 USB from line out straight to power amp.
I have 1/4TS to RCA cable.. 
 
The amp is Dynaco ST410 and it's 200watts per channel, so I am kind of worried... 
 
Any special precautions I should take? Like turning the software volume all the way down (heard something about it on the forums etc..).
 
Overall is that a good idea to use EMU404 as a preamp for the dedicated power amp?
 
The amp will be driving Klipsch KG 3.5 speakers if that matters..
 
 
Any input would be greatly appreciated! 
 
 

 

[germanium]

The gain of the amp is likely too high to be able to use the soundcard as a preamp. Your volume control will have a usable range of about 1/10th of it's total range & will make setting the proper volume difficult. Now if the amp has a setting internally that allows you to reduce the gain either of the amp directly or a volume pot for each channel at it's input to limit the overall gain of the amp you could in fact used the soundcards output as a preamp to control a poweramp directly.
 
That is in fact how my system is setup & it offers top notch sound that has to be heard to be believed. My speakers are bi-amped internally & have thier own volume control inconveniently placed in the back of the speaker so I set it low enough to maximize the range of available volume levels from my sound card but not so low that I can't compensate for soft recordings . One must be able to get usable volume from soft recordings while not limiting the available volume levels to much from louder recorings.
 
I also have a subwoofer attached to this card & its volume has to be matched to the speakers & once set neither the speakers volume control nor the subs volume control can be altered without considerable retweaking the relative balace of the two. The sub's volume control is extremely sensitive and even a hairs beadth movement throws it way off balance.
 
By the way did some reading up on the Dynaco ST410 & it doesn't look good either from a gain reduction point of view or a reliability point of view. The were quite well known to go poof quite loudly & give up quite a lot of thier magic smoke in the process. I would look for somthing else that has both gain control & much better reliabilty though I do undertand that when they worked properly they sounded quite fine.

 

[ZzBOG]

Thanks, I actually reconsidered and not getting ST410 anymore.. Better off with integrated.