2. amps-preamps
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Understanding impedence matching

I am a psychologist and my eyes start crossing when the conversation gets too technical, but that being said, I am beginning to wonder what impedence matching means and what I should pay attention to as I upgrade my setup.

The two pieces in my system that are likely here to stay for a while are my SF Electra Amator II, that evidently don't drop below 6 ohmns, making them receptive to an OTL amp, and my Cary pre, that has phono impedence @ 47K (evidently this can be adjusted) and output at 800 ohms. I am in the process of upgrading my amp and TT.

What does this mean in terms of how I think about these two acquisitions?? Are there specific numbers I need to pay attention to, and/or formulas for these, or is it all in the listening?

As always, thanks for your help. This community is amazing.
ccryder

Showing 1 response by elizabeth

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Think of impedence as language. The closer they are the same, the greater the amount of information can pass.
Sometimes the mismatch is on purpose, and in those situations, the language analogy does not work. Mostly those deliberate mismatched situations are to increase stability of the components.
(electrical engineers are free to flog me...)
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