Would a Mini-compo be a good source?

definetly not simply because the analog output is not variable ones which u find on denon and marantz cd players where u can connect them directly to power amps. u definetly need a pre amp in between ur minicompo and ur power amp and yes this minicompo will make a good source though.

if the Compo has a pre amp out (I doubt it) then yes you could do it.
else you cannot as you would be feeding the ouput of the power amp of the Compo to your Poweramp..Not Good !

quality wise you will be better off either buying a philips DVD player with a passive pre amp Or connecting your bookshjelves directly to the Mini Compo..

from sony no way just get some good cdp and then go for some good bookshelf.. well tell me what speakers do u have..?

What is the difference between "Line Out" and "pre-amp out" ?

as i understand it ..both are the same..

I use my Sonodyne Ampli deck as pre for my sonodyne Integrated amp.
But when I connect my Sonodyne Ampli deck to my sonodyne Integrated Amp through the line out, I dont get volume control facility at the deck level (I mean the volume knob of the ampli deck becomes ineffective), it is only through the volume control of the int amp that helps me to control the volume.

I use my Sonodyne Ampli deck as pre for my sonodyne Integrated amp.
But when I connect my Sonodyne Ampli deck to my sonodyne Integrated Amp through the line out, I dont get volume control facility at the deck level (I mean the volume knob of the ampli deck becomes ineffective), it is only through the volume control of the int amp that helps me to control the volume.

If both Line-out and pre-out are same then I should be able to control the volume from my ampli-deck right ???

Yes..u should be able to control the volume(exactly like how u control the volume from the pre in a pre_power setup.

but it doesnt happen that way atleast in my system. The volume control does not work in my ampli-deck if it is connected to an external amp through line-out.

Does that mean that the line-out is not the same as pre-amp out ?????

the diff between line out and the preamp out is that

line out`s output signal will be having more amplitide than the preamp out. If you connect the preamp out the quality will be very good but if you use line out the quality will not be as good as preamp out.
But if you are having multiple amplifiers connected to a pre source then in order to feed to multiple amplifiers you need more power to drive them so many use lineout only for that purpose.

The reason why lineout will not give the best performance because there will be another amp stage which is driven by ics( most of them ) so the quality will not be good.

i think sony will make a good source.the aspect which will make or break a system is the loud speaker.assuming that u have a good speaker and a power amp simply go for a good preamp for the time being then later try upgrading ur source(minicompo)if u dont like it.we r talking about a technology which is nearly 20 yrs old so the differece between different source is marginal there was an thread in HeadFi where a guy could hardly tell a difference between his sony DVD player(basic model) creek and conrad johson cd transport and dac!!!! i know i know (no flame wars please)sony do make a good digital players i am not trying to prove that all cd or dvd players r the same.what i fell is going for a another player wont change the quality of the sound so much to make ur jaws drop.

final line decide whats best for u and for ur wallet.

Neutral,
Are you interested in the mini compo only because of its DVD player ?? If so then I dont think it makes sense to spend 19.5k for it because you will anyway get much better DVD players for that price....

If you are thinking in terms of multiple benefits from the mini-compo then it makes sense....

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the torrent of replies. I would like to clarify a few points.
My objective in considering a mini-compos is that I will obtain the following:
1. DVD player
2. Tape deck
3. Radio
4. Remote control

My idea was to take the output of the headphone out from the mini-compo.

Can you please tell me the following:
1. Do I get the benefit of volume control on remote?
2. Will I be able to use the speakers of both the mini-compo and my amp-bookshelf combo simultaneously (for greater sound output or multi-room capability)?
3. Will the sound quality be acceptable? Is the headphone out a preamp out? Is there also a line out facility and for what is that used?

Well Abhi, if I don't get a discount on the player, I certainly won't take it. But otherwise, I guess it is worth considering for its flexibility.

oops! sorry my mistake i thought it was a free give away from ur brother missed that selling part definetly agree with abhi.pani does not make sense if ur using it as a stand alone dvd player for ur audio source.

If you use the headphone out, you have lost all that there is to lose in terms of sound quality already. There are simply too many stages in the path inside a minicompo before it comes out on headphones - including DSP processing and analog amplification. Definitely not a hi-fi setup. If you need the sources provided by minicompo, you need to take the line-out and have external pre-amp for volume control etc. Note that even line-out would not be of very a good quality - the source selection switches and buffers do contribute to a lot of distortion and noise in commercial systems.

Ravi,
If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me the stages that are there in a mini-compo. I don't understand the internal electronics at all.

What I get from what you have said, it that a mini-compo won't make a good source. I'll ask Junia if he can get me a Pioneer DV-578-A-S DVD player.

Neutral, the typical audio path in commercial minicompos is -

Sources -> buffers -> source switching -> preamp -> AV processor (vol contrl, equalizer, effects) -> power amp -> speaker out or headphone out

As you can see a headphone out is not much better than the high level speaker output. The line out is tapped just before preamp or AV processor (and may be routed thru an additional IC stage before giving it out as Sonic_master clarified), hence excludes the volume control. Even if there were a line out (which Sony minicompo would not have), the source buffers and switching could still degrade the quality, if audiophile quality is what we are looking for.

After having invested in good quality power amps and bookshelves it is a pity to use a headphone output - my suggestion would be to continue on separates rather than spending a lot on a minicompo that could degrade overall system performance.

Thanks a ton Ravi for enlightening me There is just one thing that I didn't get. Why does the headphone output take place after the power amp stage? Surely it doesn't take 40W/ch transistors to drive puny headphones!

In separates, I have noticed that the headphone jack is on the preamp, not the power amp. BTW, is there a way that I could use both the mini-compo and my speakers simultaneously for sound reinforcement or multi-room capability?

Neutral,

To answer your question - the headphones do require a few hundred milliwatts, something that cannot be provided by the preamp stage directly. In older minicompos the power output stage is tapped out, stepped down using resistor dividers and given to headphone - crude, but works. In newer ones there would be a separate small "power" amplifier for headphones providing the few hundred mw required. Infact in separates the headphone jack on the preamp would be driven by a small power amplifier that gets its input from the preamp-output.

Ravi, how do you know so much? Could you point me to a website that explains such useful fundas of electronics.
Can I ask you one more thing. Does a dual headphone adaptor degrade sound quality. I am using one with my current computer source - one output to the power amplifier and the other to a Sony headphones.

Neutral, I know a little only cos I studied electronics, its one of my hobbies and I work in a field closely related. However its still not authoritative knowledge, just general awareness of systems. The best place to figure out internals of audio eqpt is their service manuals - these are tough to obtain, but have a wealth of information and sometimes, some surprises in store too! So if you are really interested in internal electronics you could write to the manufacturers for service manuals.

Dont know much about dual headphone adaptors, never used them. So cant help you there!

u dont require hundred mw of power per channel to drive headphones unless you are using professional headphones like sennheiser ,akg,beyers etc.these cans do require lot of power so require a headphone amplifier if u intend to use them home.pcdp or for that matter desk top cdp have opamps to drive headphones the pcdp of todays have just 5mw+5mw(damm sony they dont make good pcdp like they use to do before)of power not powerful enough to drive a good set of phones but when u consider amplifiers or preamplifiers not many maufactures have a dedicated headphone amplifiers interested in headphones and headphone amplifiers go to www.headfi.org u will get loads of information.
I doubt a dual headphone adapter will degrade sound quality unless it is made up of cheap quality connecters
BTW get philips headphones they r much better than sony headphones (definetly in India)

i agreee that Phillips is on eof the better brands available..have been using one myself for the past 5 years and no problems whatsoever...

Finally got a chance to use a mini-compo as a source I tried out the headphone jack and was pretty satisfied with the sound quality using a Sony 777d model as the source. I turned off all the processing and sound effects on the Sony. The sound is clean with no discernible distortion. The volume can be controlled from the Sony's remote.

Then I tried out the line out jacks of the Sony. They too worked nicely and theoretically should give the cleaner output. The difficulty here is that I only have a power amp. So I am unable to control the volume.

My overall take is that mini-compos suffer more in terms of weak speakers while their signal processing inputs are of acceptable quality. However, dynamics and finer details won't be available using any mini-compo