2. amps-preamps
  3. 126293-371

Would increasing the gain in the amp give more weight to the sound? Any negatives?

I have an integrated amp with passive preamp section and I feel that the sound is not full-bodied enough. The separate phono stage has 42db of gain and I use MM cartridge. When I play cassette deck, the sound is just right in this respect.
I talked to the designer, and he said that increasing the gain is theoretically possible, though time consuming.
And if I do want to increase the gain - by how much? The amp is 120 watt/ch/8ohm, speakers are 89db efficient, 8ohm.
inna

Showing 2 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,646 posts
 
Gain does not affect body. In fact it can add quite a bit of noise.

What you want to do is increase input impedance.  You can do this with a high quality transformer, but not sure where you'd get one off the shelf.

Best,


Erik
erik_squires
15,646 posts
 
@czarivey Of course, I'm talking relatively. Unplug the amp and of course body will be affected too.

In my experience however, an impedance mismatch is more likely to cause a weak, or whimpy sound than gain. Your mileage may vary.
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