[alanford69]

Hello, what is the advised gain for a 4B³ power amplifier when paired with a BR-20 pre? 23 or 29db?

Thanks

[James Tanner]

Hi Alan - I use 29

james

[Mariusz Uszynski]

Hi Alan, I was told to use Gain 23db, because I'm using XLR interconnect cables.Although I have paired 4B³ with BP-17³.

[Clive197]

Hi Alan
I was also. Told to use 23Db gain, as I use XLR to connect my pre to power.

[alanford69]

I use XLR and my 4B³ is set to 23db as well
I asked because I was used to BP-26 faster volume gain and much more forward and punching presentation.

[James Tanner]

Folks - try the 29 and see what you think.
The idea with Balanced is you have an extra 6dB of gain so generally they recommend 23dB but I have found I prefer the 29 because it does add back a bit of the punch the BP26 is famous for.

james

[alanford69]

Thanks for the suggestion James, I did my test and found out that with acoustic music or when few instruments are playing (e.g Child in Time intro) 29db seems to bring in more detail but with more complex music patterns I  found low frequencies coming too much forward covering mids and loosing articulation and detail in this range of frequencies. So at the end I am enjoying 23db … pulling up the volume a little bit more
Of course speakers play a relevant role in this test, I own ProAc D30S (dome) but others may find that 29db is the best setting for their chain… as usual the demo is everything!
Cheers