Pre-out Voltage and Power Amp Gain

[LiveJazz]

Will the preouts on an AV receiver assume and work well with a power amp with a gain of 29dB (THX standard)? I know I can use the receiver's internal level control / Audyssey to correct if it's off my a few dB, but I don't want to it be totally off, and I certainly don't want the receiver clipping any signals because the preout voltage is too low. Being a non-math-whiz, this Audioholics article has me worried.

Note: I'm using a Marantz nr1604 and would like to preout FR and FL. The article above mentions an older Marantz with plenty of preout voltage (a good sign), but this is literally all the nr1604 manual says on the topic of preouts and external power amps: "This unit supports connection of a front speaker that uses an external power amplifier to increase its output. Connect a separately sold power amplifier to the PRE OUT (FL/FR) connector of this unit." No voltage info that I can find. I'm thinking of using the Emotiva XPA-200 with it.

Oh, and if preout voltage is not typically available in manuals, is there a way to determine it based on other information?

 

[fuzz092888]

If you plan on using an AVR with a amplifier that was built and marketed as a HT amplifier then you'll have no problems. Typically the only times you'll run into issues with output voltage are when trying to drive pro-amplifiers. Generally speaking the pre-outs on AVR's is 1Vrms these days and many pro-amps can be configured to work with this and almost all HT amps are designed to be driven to full output with about that much voltage.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Oh, and if preout voltage is not typically available in manuals, is there a way to determine it based on other information?

See Part 7 of Gain Structure for Home Theater.


Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt