dont forget preamps have a input and output impedence because your cd player or dac goes in then the signal goes out to your amps. But that should be ok considering your high quality equipment but ive seen cases before where that was the whole problem so it never hurts to check!

jayb77 August 23, 2010 11:25

100k ohms is completely normal thats what most good amps are and 50k ohm is great aswell so you want to stay at at least half that so yea 500 ohm 600 ohm is more than perfect! Alright now you at least know how to make heads or tails of some specs which is more than alot of guys do so now your a little ahead in the game! Just always make sure you keep this in mind and if you ever have doubt just try to go against it and then youll understand! Have good one!

jayb77 August 23, 2010 11:21

I hope that helps and explains some of what I meant. Alot of putting a good stereo together involves knowing stuff like this more than just a good ear; however your ear will know the difference.This is really the number 1 reason alot of people hunt forevr and ever and cant ever be happy or check this out people will talk about they never got the right sound until they bought all of their equipment from one company or youll hear in threads about people talking about one cable brand or one brand of equipment though out just gives a synergy or using only one brand of equipment is the way to go,but the reality is if you use one brand then all of the impedences are right everything is supposed to match up so thats the "synergy" or the "magic" of using a single brand of equipment in your stereo. If you just make sure you output impedence(preamp/cd player,ETC) is as low as posibble and its never higher than your input(preamp, amp,etc) youll be fine. For example my preamp is 10 ohms and thats not a missprint 10 ten ohms output impedence so it will match up with anything! I hope this makes sense as knowing this can save you alot of time and money! Not to mention heart ache!

jayb77 August 22, 2010 20:09

Oh tube equipment has very tight tolerances but im not so much talking about interconnects or speaker cable or speaker impedence but the speaker impedence/ohms does have to be right on the dot with tube. You cant go too low but im sure you know that. What I mean is all equipment has output and input impeadence for Ex. your preamp has a output impedence of 10k ohms and your amp has a input impedence of 5kohms well that is a bad match. A rule of thumb is always make sure your output impedence is less than your input impedence. Like if your preamp has an output of 2k and your amp has an input impedence of 10k your golden! With tube this is EXTREMLY important! with tube you want to try to keep your output impedence as close to half of your input impedence. EX. output 5k ohms and amp/input 10k ohms is perfect. I hope this makes sense if not I can give you the email of someone who can explain this alot better that I can. This is one of the things that people over look 90% of the time and 90% of the reason people keep upgrading. Theres nothing wrong with what they have its just the impedence is off so they lose bass and lower middrange and their stuff sounds thin and dry. Kinda like speaker placement alot of problems can be solved by just moving your speakers in or out. Ive got 3 years of electronics so I read specs on stuff and look for these things but most people dont or they look at the wrong parts of the specs. Theres a reason the companies state all those input and output impedences on their specs. Because they are important!

jayb77 August 22, 2010 18:34

Hey do you play drums? Ive played for 25 years well maybe more but when I listen to music I always judge the accuracy of a recording on the drums. Just habit and from the fact that I know what they are supposed to sound like especially the snare. If I dont feel the pop of the snare I adgust until I do.

jayb77 August 22, 2010 18:17

Yea I have a suggestion! Run from tube now before its to late!HA HA! just kidding but as you know it gets expensive and complicated. There are so many variables with tube. Just a word of advice always and I mean always make sure you equipments impedence is all matching. That can break any system but tube is especially prone. Enjoy and have fun!

jayb77 August 19, 2010 23:36