Ipod into a Power Amp

bobchiba

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I have an Arcam delta 290p that i snow surplus to requirements, I thought id use it in the kitchen to power four speakers, and was wondering if you could connect, say, an ipod into the pre-in's to use as a sort of pre amp, basically I wan't to know if you could do this driectly with a phono to jack cable and would this be suitable in regards to the line in voltage of an ipod. Im just trying to think of the cheapest way to get music out of this power amp, as im gonna have to buy the speakers and this would be easier than sourcing a pre amp and a cdp on ebay or something.
 
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Anonymous

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You can though if the music on the iPod is low quality the Arcam may reveal the flaws.
 

d_a_n1979

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Best thing you could do is sell the power amp on eBay and get either an Arcam Alpha 8 or 9 integrated amp.

Would make life easier as youve got all the tone controls and volume controls on the a mp and you can still connect the iPod and power 4 speakers using both SP1 and SP2 terminals
 

Ajani

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bobchiba:I have an Arcam delta 290p that i snow surplus to requirements, I thought id use it in the kitchen to power four speakers, and was wondering if you could connect, say, an ipod into the pre-in's to use as a sort of pre amp, basically I wan't to know if you could do this driectly with a phono to jack cable and would this be suitable in regards to the line in voltage of an ipod. Im just trying to think of the cheapest way to get music out of this power amp, as im gonna have to buy the speakers and this would be easier than sourcing a pre amp and a cdp on ebay or something.

Yes you can use the ipod as a source and preamp that way... I can't comment on how it will sound though, as I've never tried it....
 

SHAXOS

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No in my experience you cannot. The amp will play at full volume if i remember correct and probibly damage your speakers and your ears. Cant believe people are reccomending this!
 

d_a_n1979

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Yup Shaxos youre right...

The power amp is a ower/sound source only. It has NO tone controls what so ever so would play at full blast (if at all)
 

Dan Turner

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It would work, because the ipod has a volume control built in that ranges from 0 to whatever voltage it outputs when when it's turned up all the way (i.e. a pre-amp). In fact theoretically plugging the ipod directly to the power amp like this would be a great direct signal path - bypassing an additional, unecessary pre-amp stage compared with if you connected it to an integrated amp. In fact I reckon with high quality rips it could sound pretty damn good going directly into a decent power amp like that.

However in practice it is fraught with danger - you'd be constantly afraid of playing it at full blast by mistake, and you would have to connect via the headphone 3.5mm jack socket - some of the cables that connect to the ipod socket on the ipod's base output a fixed gain 'line-level' output, so if you used one of those you would be by-passing the volume and going full-blast.

It's an attractive idea, but not sure i'd have the guts to risk it.
 
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Anonymous

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I'm not sure, but I think the output voltage of the ipod is considerably lower than that of a pre-amp. You'd have to dial it way up on the volume to get any appreciable volume methinks.
 

Ajani

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I forgot to add in my initial response, that I've done what the OP is thinking of doing, with the headphone output of both a MAC Mini and a Squeezebox Classic and achieved good results....I doubt there is any substantial output voltage difference between those products and an iPod, so the iPod should be able to drive a power amp...
 
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Anonymous

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SHAXOS:No in my experience you cannot. The amp will play at full volume if i remember correct and probibly damage your speakers and your ears. Cant believe people are reccomending this!

The iPod volume control will simply perform as a preamp. You girls do create such a fuss...ÿ
 

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