[woodytone]

what is the purpose of a preamp?

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by woodytone what is the purpose of a preamp?

It's a somewhat old fashioned concept these days. Developed in the days of analog where you needed a phono preamp stage for a turntable, cassette tape drive input/outputs for recording and playback, connection to a receiver, etc... basically to bring everything to the same output level and select/coordinate separate components -- the output of whichever you selected is then sent to the power amp w/speakers.

That's the basic idea, anyway...

 

[sacd lover]

Controlling the volume level is probably its #1 function; particularly if you have a passive preamp. It amplifies the low level signals from all source components when the preamp has an active gain stage. The preamp also allows source input and selection. Some have bypass functions or loop outs for taping. Some even have outputs for headphones

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

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[Budgie]

It's the switching and control circuitry between the amp and the sources. It can be a seperate piece of equipment or integrated into other pieces of equipment. It can be active or passive, simple or complex, depending on design. Simple is a volume control between an source (cd for instance) and an amp. Complex is input/output switching/volume/balance/tone controls with built in processing for multi channel home theater, including video source switching and maybe a subwoofer crossover, all in one package.