Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knew the output voltage of Cambridge Audio Azur 840c? Oddly enough, the information isn't in the manual (or I'm an idiot and may have simply missed it) and I haven't heard back from Cambridge Audio about it.

Never mind, I heard back from Cambridge Audio.

For those that might be interested, RCA: ~2.1v; XLR: ~4.5v.

Never mind, I heard back from Cambridge Audio.

For those that might be interested, RCA: ~2.1v; XLR: ~4.5v.

that's crazy high compared to my Muse. Steve listened to it and was like .. It's 1.99v XLR. Crazy when your analog frontend has more gain than your digital player...

If you think that's high, try Cary. RCA: 3.0V; XLR: 6.0V.

I do with the 840c had the same output voltage for RCA and XLR, though (like my old Esoteric).

Hey Haj, The standard traditionally has been 1 v p-p (Single ended), but most companies ignore that figure now. Having a higher output voltage will make it play louder given the same preamp settings. This gives the player with a higher output an advantage in direct comparisons, since usually the louder system is thought to be better during comparisons.

Higher is not necessarily better. Sometimes the preamp input can be overloaded. Or at the very least because of the higher input the preamps volume control may be in it lowest operating area which is often the least linear area of operation.

The only time I look for high output from a source is when a passive (Volume controll) control unit is used (I hate the term passive preamp, by definition a preamp is not passive)

Hey Haj, The standard traditionally has been 1 v p-p (Single ended), but most companies ignore that figure now. <snipped>

Hmm, for some reason I thought 2Vpp was standard for single-ended? As always, I could be wrong...

that is probably a high enough XLR output that you could use a passive attenuator, salty. i heard the Axiom passive attenuator in Earl's system, and it was nice. cheap, too. no remote control, though.

That's actually why I wanted to know the voltage output. I bought a used Axiom a while back, mostly because it was rather cheap, but it has basically sat on a shelf doing nothing. So I decided I was going to send it back to have it readjusted to use in my rig, and output voltage of 840c was part of the info I needed. RCA output for this use, though, as I may need the XLR output for something else in the future. Shouldn't be a problem since I really don't listen that loud anyways.

Hey Haj, The standard traditionally has been 1 v p-p (Single ended), but most companies ignore that figure now.

Hey Ethan. How's the business going? I didn't even know there was a standard for voltage output.

Hmm, for some reason I thought 2Vpp was standard for single-ended? As always, I could be wrong...

AFAIK neither is true. 2vRMS is pretty common nowadays, and in the past you might see between 2vpp and 2.828 (1vRMS). 1vpp just makes it extremely difficult to get the full dynamic performance out of the converter.

AFAIK neither is true. 2vRMS is pretty common nowadays, and in the past you might see between 2vpp and 2.828 (1vRMS). 1vpp just makes it extremely difficult to get the full dynamic performance out of the converter.

Yep. I did a search after posting and discovered it was 2Vrms, not Vpp that was common. I always get confused on these