between preamp and amp????

[dvjorge]

This is a question I would like to have clear. Since I have read different opinions, I would like to hear what the guys in this forum think about it. What can influence the sound more the amp or the preamp??? I mean, if you want a big jump in sound quality, do you look at a new preamp or a new power amp???
Thanks.

[Mr Peabody]

I'd say there's not really a definitive answer for that. It depends on what gear you have that you are upgrading from, and, what you are upgrading to. I've seen it go both ways. I recently upgraded my preamp and within the same brand and it made a large improvement. I sold my prior CJ preamp and Adcom 5500 power amp to a guy who replaced a Rotel preamp and was using small NAD power amps to drive some Paradigm Studio 100's. In this case the CJ was an improvement over the Rotel but the more powerful Adcom with more current made the larger difference. Any time you change a link in the chain it's going to influence the end result. How much influence depends on how far you go from where you were at.

Even if you had two systems each being same brand, trade preamps for a listen, put them back and then trade power amps for a listen. And, if the result was to where every one could agree which made the larger influence the result may be totally different with two other brands. That agreement just mentioned is a big if too, you asked a very subjective and ambiguous question.

[Feanor]

This is a question I would like to have clear. Since I have read different opinions, I would like to hear what the guys in this forum think about it. What can influence the sound more the amp or the preamp??? I mean, if you want a big jump in sound quality, do you look at a new preamp or a new power amp???
Thanks.

It's a generalization, but in my experience with modestly priced equipment the power amp will usually make a bigger difference to the overall sound character. The preamp is not unimportant however. So it's possible that changing a preamp could make more difference than changing between two, quite similar power amps.

In the last decade for power amps I've had (1) Phase Linear 400, (2) NAD C270, (3) Bel Canto eV2i (integrated), (5) Adcom 555II, and (6) Monarchy SM-70 Pro. These were all substantially different in sound.

Preamps I used in the interval were (1) Apt Holman, (2) Bel Canto integrated (see above), (3) Adcom 750 in both active and passive modes, (4) Sansui c-2101, (5) Sonic Frontiers Line 1. The difference here will real but relatively subtle.

Regarding the pres: the difference between the Adcom active & passive seem subtle at first but at the end I found active to be noticably brighter. When I sold the Adcom, the buyer irrately informed me that he'd had to replace the power supply. The brightness I noticed might have portended the failure, though I sold the unit innocently believing it was OK. The Sonic Frontiers is all-tube other than the power supply; I found swapping ("rolling") different tubes also made a difference, but a relatively subtle difference vs. the power amp changes.

[poppachubby]

These kinds of questions are almost impossible to answer. It's situational, but overall the amp should influence the final sound more than the preamp. It should be noted that the biggest change would be solid state to tubes, or vice versa.

[thekid]

I think I agree with Mr.P on this issue based on my limited experience and tin ears. I have a variety of speakers that I have used both separates and integrated amps/recievers on with various results.

IMO speakers have different sound characteristics and different components whether a pre-amp/amp combo or an integrated amp/receiver just match up better with some than others. There has been numerous debates about which is more important quality speakers or quality sources and I don't think there has been a clear answer because of the different relationship the same speakers can have with two different sources. My Polk 10's sound great with my Kenwood M1D and the DCM Time Windows sound great with my Sansui AU-505. Switch them around and the sound still sounds good but not quite as good. Don't have a clue why but that is just my experience and I think others have had similar experiences.

IMO if you want a big jump in sound quality at the low to mid-fi level you probably need to first find the speakers whose characteristics most closely match the sound characteristics for the music you listen to most. (It makes little sense to buy speakers that really excel on the low end and fall a little short on the top if all you listen to is accoustic music for example) Once you find them then you attempt to find the component(s) that are the best match for the speakers. This could mean as Pops suggests that you have to look at tube vs solid state or separates vs integrated etc and that is not easy and takes alot of time and patience. I can only tell you (and I am sure the others here will agree with me on at least this point) that once you have a matched pair it is well worth the journey.

Good Luck!

[E-Stat]

I mean, if you want a big jump in sound quality, do you look at a new preamp or a new power amp???

As noted by others, it really depends upon your starting point and - choice of source(s). If you do not require phono, then you might not need a line stage at all. So long as you match impedance and gain, I find the best sounding preamp to be none.

rw