[Possum]

Does anyone have sound clips or know of music tracks that can really stress an amp into clipping? I just built a Nelson Pass Balanced Line Stage preamp and have suspicions that with the default gain, with a potentiometer only at the output, the amp may be clipping with an input level that is too high, or with sounds that are too "strenuous." If the input level is too high, the alternative is to lower it by changing a single resistor (which many builders have done for better sound quality, and is recommended by Nelson Pass if gain isn't needed), but a lower gain will make the preamp's output too low to use as a headphone amp. I'd also like to avoid using an input potentiometer, since that'll add some complexity that I don't think I want to deal with right now.

 

[BoyElroy]

Hi Possum,

FWIW, I always take my "Empire of the Sun" cd with me when I audition speakers. The cd has two tracks, "Suo Gan" and "The British Grenadiers", that has defeated every system I've listened to (at volume) except for a Krell/Talon Khorus setup a couple of years ago. The dynamic swing on the Suo Gan track as the soprano chorus kicks in is something to behold and the kettle drums on the "Grenadiers" track have bottomed out every speaker (this includes Proac Responses, B&W Nautilus, etc.) save the Talons.

 

[Ob3ron]

Telarc's new 1812 Overture cd might do the trick aslo trick, while still being a great listen!! Check it out.

 

[rickcr42]

The Balanced Line Stage is pretty much the same as the Pass Labs Aleph P , down load the service manual here (right click,save as) for how levels are dealt with

http://www.passlabs.com/pdf/aleph/apserv17.pdf