For example, the company said that when it comes time to purchase a new amplifier, several things should be considered prior to making the purchase. “First, get to know a little bit about the brand you are buying: Do they have a sound pedigree? What do the media say about their products? How long have they been in the Hi-Fi business? At the end of the day, their experience and knowledge counts a lot when it comes to buying a quality product,” says the company. The company has also discussed the difference between a pre-amplifier and integrated amplifier. “A Pre-amplifier, typically is a single piece component that takes low-level signal from different sources such as CD and DVD. The front panel of the component generally has a selection of controls that allows for selection between the inputs, along with other various control functions like volume or tone control. At the rear of the panel a set of outputs are located; the output signal is generally sent to a power amplifier that then amplifies the signal to a much higher current that is suitable for driving a pair of loudspeakers,” says the company. “An integrated amplifier is single piece component that has power amplification – a transformer – and additionally has a selection of controls that range from switches, buttons and knobs incorporated into the chassis of the component that allows you to, amongst other things, switch between audio sources such as CD, DVD, Radio, adjust volume and also possible tone control. Additionally, you may also have the option to select between two sets of speakers. On the rear panel you would have multiple inputs allowing for the above mentioned components to be plugged in; and in addition a set of speaker binding posts would be mounted. The binding posts allow the speaker cable to be connected to the rear of the panel. A point to remember is that an integrated amplifier is essentially a preamplifier and power amplifier in the one chassis,” added Bryston. To download and read the PDF guide, click here. |
