I'm not really sure of your install and your needs, but if I were to buy a preamp,
I would seek a higher voltage preout design with balanced outputs, and
obvisously, low noise.... but is your amp able to cope with the higher voltage
preouts?
That's why I don't admire home audio amps very much in the sense
that they don't have gain controls and lack signal processing, features you can
use to optimize performance. If you really think about it, home audio has
been stuck in the dark ages vs. car and pro audio. People use high voltage
preouts in car and pro audio, but not common in home audio. People adjust
amp gain for best noise performance, but not in home audio. People take
advantage of signal processing more in car and pro audio, less in home audio.
The list goes on and on. What about balanced preamp signals? This is standard
in proaudio {you don't pay extra for it}, but in car and home audio it's a premium
item... All these things they do in proaudio and don't charge extra, are big
$$$ items elsewhere in spite that it's so easy and cheap to implement.
Too much audio comedy everywhere. If you wanted just a preamp, a signal booster
with volume knob, a simple DIY project can be made. You can make it balanced
with high voltage output with very little thinking about it.
