2. amps-preamps
  3. 1347498748

Impedance Mismatch ???

I have to say I`ve never ever even considered trying to make sure various components are matched impedance wise.
But I came upon a thread where it was said that the output impedance of the Preamp should be 10 times less than the input impedance of the Amp.
So out of curiosity I look up what my Preamp and Amp has for those numbers.
The Preamp shows 100 ohms output and the Amp input shows 33K.
What am I supposed to be hearing if there is something awry ??
I`ve been listening for a few years to this combo and I like what I hear,BUT, am I unknowingly compromising the sound or performance somehow ?
scm

Showing 2 responses by larryi

larryi
3,718 posts
 
Adding an extra stage to increase input impedance to 40k probably degrades sound a little bit, so not doing so would be an improvement. The trade off is less compatibility with tube linestages which can have fairly high output impedances. Rowland may have decided that the tradeoff is worthwhile, either because of the performance gain and/or because tube linestages are unlikely to be used with that particular amp.
larryi
3,718 posts
 
I am currently running an amp that has 600 ohm input transformers. This tube amp does not match up well with anything but a linestage that also has 600 ohm output transformers (I have such a linestage). A friend has a different amp that also has input transformers (also 600 ohms) that is hard to match with linestages. None of his tube linestages work well with that amp, and even solid state linestages that do not have an extremely low output impedance is not ideal; he runs that amp with a Levinson No. 32 preamp which has a very low 20 ohm output impedance into unbalanced lines (10 ohms into balanced). This is another example of rare, special requirements.
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