Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

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Re: one more question...

Posted by placete@aol.com (M) on July 26, 2002 at 08:18:37

In Reply to: Re: one more question... posted by Bud on July 25, 2002 at 15:46:37:

Mikel:

It may very well seem to be a contradiction that an active linestage could be even more transparent (distortionless) than a passive device that uses the same Vishay S102C attenuator, but in our case it's true. The reason for the so called "solid state sound" in otherwise good high end systems is, believe it or not, the volume control. Adding an output stage to the typical volume control simply insures that the volume controls distortion ("brightness") is faithfully passed on to the power amp.

But if you eliminate that controls distortion, then adding the output amplifier simply lowers the output impedance to a very low level, insuring that every last bit of musical detail actually makes it to the power amp intact. Also, the low output impedance insures quieter operation for a blacker background.

When using a simple volume pot in a passive situation, the impedance problems cause enough of a roll-off of the highs help cover up the distorion from the pot thus helping to get rid of some of the brightness. But then you also lose musical detail. Using Vishay S102C resistors with the almost purely resistive load they offer to the source enables a passive device to work much better than it has any right to work. With a fairly low impedance source, the performance is exceptional.

But adding a pair of very high quality class-a output amps fed by two huge power supplies will isolate your source from the amp load. And the low output impedance will insure that the signal that arrives at the amp is an exact image of the signal from the source with nothing added or taken away.

Guy Hammel, Placette Audio

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Kimber Kable

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