Russellc
Addicted Member
No problem this is what's it's all about.
More than enough gain, if I connected my phono pre to my power amp I think the roof would lift off.
I have the order for Mouser done already, just need to hit okay.
Hopefully RussellC will chime in with his thoughts on the B1.
I am seeing it this way, my phono stage is fine, my power amp is fine and all my preamp is doing is getting in the way.
I have one question though, am I better getting two single ganged pots or going for a stepped dual gang, I know which way is cheaper.
B-1 is very nice, warm, transparent, excellent bass, but no gain. There is a thread here somewhere I lifted from diyaudio forum about a simple gain stage for the B-1, utilizing more SK170 J-fets of course. While I may try this yet, I am more inclined to try the J-fet BOZ.
If you have plenty of gain to bring your power amp to a good level in the passive mode, you will have plenty for the Job. With the F-5 only having 15 db, a little gain is a good thing for any speakers under 90 db or so.
The main feature of the B-1 is that it is a buffer. A circuit that presents high input impedance making it extremely easy to drive, eliminating problems presented by very long interconnect cables and so forth. Very easy to drive, then the circuit presents a very low output impedance, allowing it to easily drive power amp input impedances. Wide bandwidth, transparency, great bass, are all excellent features of the B-1, just no gain.
However, all that said about gain, it will usually get most of my speakers, including the big E waves to more than loud enough levels. (The F-5 I'm currently using only has 15 dB of gain, so a little preamp gain is handy when slightly less efficient speakers are being used.) Nelson describes the B-1's gain situation as "going 55 with the gas pedal to the floor." He feels if it is loud enough, then good, and feels well about not wasting gain that the amplifier would have to make up, full throttle is good...
Sorry for the OT, and hope this helps.
Russellc
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