Audiosource Amp-100 Questions

If you push speaker button A, button B will pop out...and vice-versa. I just tried it on mine to confirm. I believe the manual is in error - the amp doesn't run speaker set A and B at the same time. One set on A is stereo and one set on B is stereo.

I would like to try and figure out if this is really the case; I have a budget of <150 for a preamp, and with a preamp i should be able to power another pair of speakers right?

Would it be possible to do this? Have a preamp to go with the Audiosource amp and get another pair of speakers?
 
WHAT ????? :saywhat: So, you're saying that if you have a 200 watt amp and use a preamp you get 300 watts ?

No, but if you have a 200 watt amp and use it without a preamp you won't get anywhere near the full output of the amp.
 
You are able to select both speakers A+B at the same time on the amp. Do I need a preamp to run 2 speakers at once or will the amp alone be sufficient to do this?
 
No, but if you have a 200 watt amp and use it without a preamp you won't get anywhere near the full output of the amp.

You MAY not get full output. That is a function of the source's output voltage and amp's input voltage required for full output. IMHO you should have said that. You made it sound like a preamp somehow transformed an amp into a more powerful unit. Now that I know where you're coming from, that clears thing up.
 
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Can anyone answer my question? You ARE able to run speakers A+B at the same time, but to do this would I need a preamp? Or would the audiosource amp100 be able to power both by itself?
 
Can anyone answer my question? You ARE able to run speakers A+B at the same time, but to do this would I need a preamp? Or would the audiosource amp100 be able to power both by itself?

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread the amp you have can only run one pair of speakers at a time. A or B, but not both. Adding a second amp would give you the ability to run two pairs of speakers at the same time.
 
You can indeed run 2 pairs at the same time from this amp.

All you need to do is push in both buttons together and they will both stay connected.
They clearly do not want it done this way as they do interlock themselves to only let 1 at a time play but then they are also easily both engaged if needed as well.

I am sure they are just concerned with sustained lower impedance operation killing the amp but I have installed probably 50 of these and have yet to have a single one die and I routinely run too low an impedance on them.

Great little amp for the money and really flexible with the built in switching and VC.

Ed
 
Hey AVService, it seems like you are well experienced with this amplifier. Are there any preamps that you would recommend using with it? I have a budget of <200 dollars.
 
Hey AVService, it seems like you are well experienced with this amplifier. Are there any preamps that you would recommend using with it? I have a budget of <200 dollars.

Sorry,I rarely use these with a PreAmp in a stand alone system. I will normally use them as Zone amps in a large distributed system where they are fed signal from some big multi-zone control or as a 2nd zone output of a HT receiver.

I have used them with various Parasound PreAmps and really like the little Z-Pre for example but you would have to hunt one down for $200.00.

It does not really matter which PreAmp you use and I would just find the nicest one you can for the money,Any PreAmp should work without a hitch with almost every amp out there.

I recently picked up an Emotiva DAC which can also act like a PreAmp but only for digital sources as they were on sale for $200.00 shipped.
If they still are and you can live with Digital only sources it would be tough to think of any better PreAamp new for the money?

Ed
 
Great, that will definitely help my search process.....

any thoughts on pairs of speakers to go with this amp? mine are pretty old, and i'm going to be looking to upgrade soon. again, <200 bucks.
 
Great, that will definitely help my search process.....

any thoughts on pairs of speakers to go with this amp? mine are pretty old, and i'm going to be looking to upgrade soon. again, <200 bucks.

I don't really know how to address such a broad and boundless question?
Any speaker you like that will work with the power this amp has will be just fine.

I have no idea how or why anyone would want a suggestion about a speaker choice especially without any idea at all what your situation and likes are?

Get out and look and listen and decide what you want and don't want and hunt something down,that is a huge part of what makes this hobby what it is.

Ed
 
How do you hook a preamp to these amps? I tried one (line 2) and the sound was all distorted. It plays clear by itself but I want more gain.
 
Just picked up an AMP 100 for the price of a decent lunch. DC offset is 1 mV and 0.33 mV so good to go. (It's always a good idea to check DC with a new to me amp.) Nice sounding amp. It features a real toroidal transformer for clean 50 wpc. Only downside is there is no speaker relay which means I will not be risking nicer speakers with this. However, the AMP 100 plays nicely with my favorite budget buster Sony SS-MB150H speakers. I really appreciate the volume control which allows for CD Direct play.
 
Hi all. I just wanted to clear up a couple things about this amp. You definitely can operate both speakers at once and Audiosource intended it that way. The OM says that it will do A, B, or A+B. This is done just as someone said earlier. Just press in both buttons at once. To release one, press the other. Also, the schematic is divided into two sheets: the preamp section and the power amp section. It definitely has a minimalist preamp built in. What might be confusing people is that its at the "pro" +4 dBu level. (1.4 volts) So a consumer line level of -10 dBV won't drive it to full power. In this case, an additional preamp stage would help.
 
Artie has it exactly right. To use the full possible power one might need a preamp. But the preamp will not increase the amp's power!

Sorry but power and volume are different. A preamp cannot boost power. It can boost volume. And this will be OK as long as you don't over drive the amp's input or output. Then you will get more volume and more distortion. If this one is good with 1.4 volts as I assume is right, then we have a little more headroom to play with. Great!

But you don't necessarily need a preamp to do this but any source with a volume control such as a cell phone unless the phone's output is too low even set to the maximum which is possible but not consistently true.

In any case, a true control preamp gives you lots of signal control and that includes more control over volume, but no more power. That is simply impossible.

Cheers!
 
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