Pass-thru input

Rob Babcock · « **on:** 15 Apr 2003, 06:52 am »

Do any of your preamps or chassis allow for HT pass thru? I mean an input that bypasses the volume and runs from input to ouput w/no manipulation. This would be a dream come true for those of us who'd like to integrate an AVA preamp into an existing HT setup.

If not, could any of your chassis be so modified, even at extra expense? That would really be a godsend.

Thanks.

avahifi · « **Reply #1 on:** 15 Apr 2003, 12:59 pm »

Hi:

We don't have a preamp with a "dedicated" pass through like you are looking for (note tat the tape loop outputs pass the line signal without going through the volume/tone circuits). As for a custom unit I suggest sending an e-mail to Frank at info@avahifi.

Thanks!

Larry Jenkins

JoshK · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Apr 2003, 01:23 pm »

Larry,

Just as a thought/suggestion, if you guys did work out an option for HT passthrough in place of the tape loop then you could offer the choice between the two options. Seems tape deck are becoming more and more rare these days while HT integration is becoming increasingly more common. If it was easy enough to do, the two options might be beneficial.

avahifi · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Apr 2003, 12:53 pm »

I am not sure why a "pass thru" connection would be desireable. I would suspect one would have better sound quality in the home theater mode by using the AVA preamp's line stage to drive the left and right front main amplifier and speakers. In general, the line outputs of the surround sound unit will be very limited in slew rate and current drive capabilty, and will be much happier driving into a resistive 47Kohm load of the AVA preamp than trying to drive whatever the imput impedance of the power amplifier is, along with the distributed capacitance of that load. A typical linear op-amp as used in the line stage of the processor is a 5 milliamp peak current device, and is subject to thermal feedback distortion internally too, and probably cannot drive the interconnect to the power amp and its associated load without saturating. Of course, many high priced interconnect cables make the capacitve load worse, and you can obviously hear that effect, but its not an effect you want to pay extra for.
Frank Van Alstine

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 Apr 2003, 12:20 am »

Thanks for taking a minute to address this. The reason for a pass thru is that it would be very hard to run just the front channels into the preamp & the rest into an HT receiver and get the channel volume balance correct. With a pass-thru you could have just one unity-gain input where the recievers front L/R preouts could run in, preserving the integrity of the MC component, while allowing the system to be a high end music system, too. Just switch to the other inputs and the reciever would be completely out of the loop. The AVA preamp would just pass along the recievers front channels without editorializing; you'd have the full functionality of both units with little compromise.

I realize that may not be something you want to incorporate into a product, but I do want to point out that several other companied (eg IRD on this site) do this, and I've seen quite a bit of interest in this feature lately, as evidenced by many threads on AC.

Just a thought. Thanks for your time.

avahifi · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Apr 2003, 05:31 pm »

Actually, with its stepped precison volume control, it is very easy to set up an AVA preamp to match volume with the HTS receiver. Just set it up once to match gain, and then use the volume control on the receiver to govern. If you wanted the advantages of a unity gain current buffer, then use an AVA preamp with buffered tape outputs, bypassing the controls and line stage, but still having the advantage of a high current, high slew rate, unity gain circuit to drive the power amplifier with.

Frank Van Alstine