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Do I need a Preamplifier

Hi,

I am a novice in Home Audio setting up. I recently purchased a HK3480 Stereo Receiver, and Two Klipsch SB2 speakers to rig up my home audio setup. My CD Player is a cheap cyberhome entry level DVD player. I, like most of us have lots of digital music. It is stored on my computer, as well as on my MP3 Player (Creative Zen 30GB). I use a headphone Jack to RCA cable to hook up my MP3 player to my receiver. It sounds pretty good except for the fact that I need to crank up the colume to -25db to get good output. Also when playing from CD (Whose gain is set to max) I need to set the volume levels to -35db.

I would like to know whether I need to buy a preamp for this kind of setup.

Thanks
Boni
bonigopalan4ad6

Showing 4 responses by snofun3

snofun3
601 posts
 
Your receiver already has a preamp (preamp, amp and tuner make up a receiver).
First - check the volume on your MP3 player - my kids have to max theirs out to get decent gain to play through an audio system. If the MP3 won't go louder, either resign youself to using a louder volume level, or get another one with more output.
snofun3
601 posts
 
Bonigv - Bring the output on your MP3 volume up until you hear distortion (if you do). You're better off amplifying that output than getting all the excess noise by trying hard to amplify a smaller signal (volume turned down).
DO NOT use the phono input for two reasons.
First the gain in that input will be absurd, and you'll overload the amp input, distorting quickly.
Second, the phono input uses the RIAA equalization curve for vinyl, so your input to the amp section will really be screwed up with all kinds of EQ you don't want.
snofun3
601 posts
 
No - see the first two posts - you already have a preamp in your receiver. Bignerd did a good job of describing the combinations and permutations of receivers, amps, etc.
The preamp is where the signal goes in on your receiver, and the manipulation of the signal happens - tone controls, balance etc. That output is then fed to the amplifier.
What I'm trying to say is to turn up the signal from the MP3 player to the point just before distorting (if it does distort - it may not). Use the loudest signal from the MP3 to feed through the preamp and into the amp.
The reason for this is that you then have the loudest signal possible going into the preamp which means that you amplify the maximum amount of signal, and minimum amount of noise.
Good luck.
snofun3
601 posts
 
The output from your MP3 headphone player is a line level out. As far as adjusting to match other levels, don't bother. Even high end stuff comes out in all differet levels - Maybe your receiver has a level matching feature? It would be in the setup menu, and would allow you to match the levels from all of your components (when you get them).
However, as Bignerd indicates, why bother - just use it as is for now.
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